Could It Be Jealousy?
by LexLogikk
Summary: COMPLETE! AU When Ino's and Neji's lives are shoved together, they do not argue or fight with it. They enjoy it, and spend plenty of time together. Too much time for many people's comfort. Could it be jealousy? NejiIno.
1. Starting Out Friends

**I've been working on this since like... the beginning of the school year... so I'm sorry if the bores you to tears! I promise that the next few chapters will be better! But since I **_**have**_** been working on this for so long, I gave you guys a 4 part update. I'll try my best to get chapter 5 up soon, which shouldn't be **_**too**_** hard seeing how I'm almost half way done with it. But enough of my rambling, and onto the story.**

**Disclaimer: You would all know if I owned Naruto, because it would suck.**

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_Could It Be Jealousy?_

By TheLextacyBlossom

Ino

Chapter One: Starting Out Friends

It had started out like any other day for me. I got up, ate breakfast (though it could hardly be called such) and headed off to school. Nothing special there. The first half of a minute was normal. Sakura was being her know-it-all self, Naruto was being his I-don't-know-anything self, so on and so forth. And, as always, when I said, "Morning, Sasuke." the shady figure said no reply. A completely normal day.

But then something abnormal happened. Neji walked into the room. I was indifferent for a while, but after a few minutes of him talking to Iruka, I started getting suspicious. And then, without any warning, he turned and walked in my direction. Not that I meant it to, but my mouth popped open slightly. It closed, though, when he sat down in the empty seat in front of me. That didn't stop me from gawking.

"Why is Neji here? I thought he graduated last year…" I said to no one in particular, but Hinata, who was taking her normal seat next to me, must have assumed I was talking to her since she looked up at me, then at Neji, then back again. There was a puzzled expression on her face.

"Honestly, I have no clue. He never said anything about it at dinner…" she sounded genuinely dumbfounded, but I was still disappointed. She should've known, he being her cousin. But I let it drop as she turned her attention back to emptying out her backpack.

I had thought about asking him myself. Then I chuckled. _C'mon._ I thought. _We _all_ know I wouldn't do _that_. I'd be too embarrassed!_ Not that anyone knew, but I actually had a thing for Neji, and not for Sasuke; Sasuke was just some snobby brat who acted like the coolest, sexiest guy on the planet. But, he wasn't, and I only pretended to like him so no one would figure out I like Neji (although I'm fairly certain Sakura already knows… she often peeps through my diary, and she just kind of knows me a little too well.) and loathe Sasuke.

Sadly, I knew for a fact that Neji isn't interested. He's supposed to like TenTen, which is just stupid if you ask me. I mean, she's a nice girl and all, but she's not really, you know, available. TenTen is dating Rock Lee, which makes less sense than Neji liking her. Rock Lee is just plain creepy.

But then class began and I had to pull myself away from my thoughts. Not that I really did. How could I when the love of my life was sitting not three feet in front of me? So… I just basically spent the class period staring at the back of Neji's head (which isn't much of a sight since I love his eyes the most) and doodling a bunch of random kids from school (I was mostly trying to draw Neji, but had to make sure Hinata didn't get suspicious!) on the back of my notebook.

And then, without any warning, Iruka dismissed the class. Every kid started empting out into the halls. Including Neji. I had to kick myself to keep myself from pouting as he got up and left. It wasn't enough to keep me from sighing, but I didn't mind since no one else was around. I packed up my things, and then walked over to the door. Taking one last wistful glance at where he had sat, I walked out of the room and headed to my next class.

(()) (()) (())

Next thing I knew, I was standing outside the doorway to the gym staring blankly at where Neji had stood not two second previously. _How many classes does he have of mine now?_ I asked myself, shocked at how I sounded annoyed, almost angry. _I should be jumping for joy right about now._ I scolded myself. I shook my head, trying to clear it, when I heard someone shout out.

"Oiy! Ino! Aren't you going to change?" I looked in the direction of where it was coming from and saw a pink haired girl. Sakura was the one who was yelling at me. _What an outgoing goof._ I said silently in my head. Sakura really doesn't have the word 'timid' in her vocabulary. She was all mouth, and, when someone talked back, all fists.

"Yeah, I guess. Give me a sec, okay?" I told her. She shrugged and went back into the locker room. I breathed for a second, looked once more at where he had stood (Is this going to become a thing with me? Looking where ever he stood?) and headed to join the other girls in the locker room.

A few minutes later, every boy and girl was dressed for gym and sorted into teams for volleyball, which happened to be my best/favorite sport. I smiled. This was the most perfect chance to prove myself to Neji.

The game went by in a blaze. I never really noticed anything other than Neji and where the ball was headed. Then again, those were the only things I really cared about, which is probably why I Sakura got hurt (I wasn't paying attention to the other team and spiked the ball over the net right into her face) and had to sit out for the rest of the period with a bloody nose. I wondered if she was mad. Never the less, I still blushed like mad when I helped her off the floor. I guess my spikes got better since the beginning of the year, because back then she barely even noticed me hitting the ball into her, which I did quite often back then.

While I was helping her, I stole a glance at Neji. He was looking at me, too. When I saw his beautiful eyes looking me over, my blush deepened. I swore he saw right through me, but still couldn't help but be flattered he was even looking in my direction. Someone as cool as him would never notice someone as plain as me.

After we got all that cleared up, everyone went back to the game. I made sure I paid more attention, just in case Hinata ended up looking like Sakura. I noticed Neji rarely looked away from me, except when the ball was coming directly at him. I don't think my blush died down at all the entire period. And even after my screw up, my team won 26 to 17 by the end of class.

I glanced at Neji (and blushed when he glanced back) and headed for the locker room. I had hoped that Sakura would be back from the nurse by then, but she wasn't. Wave after wave of guilt hit me the whole time we were changing. I felt horrible about hurting her. It made me have to sit down and breathe (Lets face it. I was trying not to cry, okay?) for a while, which made me take longer. I got out like three minutes later than normal.

And, in some twisted, morbid way, I was glad I had felt guilty and took longer to get out. Because right as I left the locker room, I spotted Neji walking across the gym floor. He saw me too, and stopped walking. For a while he stood there. I guess he was waiting for me. So I walked over to him.

Everybody had evacuated the gym floor. No one was here but us. I felt the butterflies take flight in my stomach. We were completely alone! My face lifted up into a small grin as he closed the last two feet between us.

"That was a nice spike earlier. What's your name?" he asked me. I blushed deeply.

"My name… I'm… Yamanaka Ino…" I stuttered. My blush darkened when he chuckled. I looked down.

"Ino, huh? You don't mind me calling you that, do you?"

I shook my head and he chuckled again. "What class you have next?"

I looked at him for a second. He looked so handsome. I couldn't believe he was talking to me. I think I felt my mouth slightly open._ Say something!_ I screamed inside my mind. "I have biology next… Ms. Chiaki's class." _Geez! What's wrong with you? You're never this shy!_ I scolded myself.

He grinned. "Awesome. So do I. Want to walk together?"

My heart stopped. I couldn't breathe. _He really wants to walk with _me_! This is so awesome!_ I yelled silently inside of me.

"Sure!"

"Great. But we'd better get going, or else we're going to get in trouble, and I'd hate for you to get chastised because of me."

I blushed. He laughed again and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the gym. His hand was cool against mine; his skin was soft and smooth.

In less than a minute we had just barely made it to class before the teacher closed the doors. She's one of the only teachers in the entire school that I actually hate. Thankfully, everyone else did too. Except for Neji, who never had her before. He walked in looking kind of happy-peppy and everyone stared at him and I, who were still holding hands. I was _so_ close to pouting when he pulled his out of mine. But we were both blushing, so…

"Miss Yamanaka, would you care to take a seat? And your boyfriend is going to have to leave and go to his own classroom; I'm sure his teacher is missing him." The rest of the class laughed loudly.

"One, he's not my boyfriend," – I cried inside – "…and two, he's in the right class, Ms. Chiaki." I glared at her. This is probably the only class that I'm all badass to a teacher. "Got a problem with that?"

She returned my glare. She's the one teacher who won't be badass back. Or so I thought. "No, no, there's nothing wrong with him being in this class. But…" She said in an evil tone. "_If _he isn't your boyfriend, why is it you two were holding hands?" Her mouth formed a menacing grin.

I sighed. "Give it up. You know just as well as I do that I'm going to win this argument. So why don't you just go back to writing shit on the board?" I said cruelly. I think I heard Hinata gasp somewhere near the back of the room.

I felt Neji's eyes on the back of my head. I felt kind of bad, and I wasn't sure why, but I did. I hoped he would still like me by the time we got to our seats. I blushed.

"What ever." The evil Ms. Chiaki turned to the chalkboard and picked up her piece of chalk. Both Neji and I sighed, though maybe not for the same reason. I walked over to a set of open seats and he followed. I took one and he took the other. If Neji was mad at me, he didn't show it.

"Hey, um, Ino?" he asked me quietly when the teacher was writing on the board.

"Mhm?"

"I'm not very good at volleyball, and I was wondering –" He broke off and looked around. "– If you wouldn't mind coaching me sometime after school."

I blushed but smiled. "Yeah, sure. When's good for you?" I asked. He said anytime would work. "Okay, I'll talk to the gym teacher tomorrow. But take notice I'm not going to go easy on you!" I almost said 'because I think you're gorgeous' but I barely caught myself. That would've been awkward.

He grinned a crooked grin that broke my heart just by looking at it. "Awesome! And I never said I wanted to be taken lightly. I just said I wanted help."

"Okay." We both grinned. "Just letting you know."

(()) (()) (())

One after the other, I found out Neji had every class with me. It made me so happy. We walked together to every single one. We talked feverently the whole day. It was like we were the only two people on earth. We very well could've been; no one else talked to us, or even looked at us (from what I could see, but hell, I don't know. I was focused on Neji the whole day!) By the end of the day we felt like we'd been friends since the beginning of time.

Then school ended and we were probably the only people in the entire building who felt sad about that. Teachers were smiling (I so didn't know they could do that!) as they erased their most previous lesson, and everyone else we sighing with relief. Not us. We stuck out our lips in a pout when the bell struck. It meant we'd have to part company. The very thought of that was sad. I enjoyed being with Neji so much, and not just because I had the hots for him; I really liked him for who he was.

We have our lockers on the opposite sides of the building, so we said goodbye to each other. He turned around and started walking away, but I stood there looking wistfully at him. I took a step backward, as if to remind myself I had to get going, then turned away from him.

I felt a stare on the back of my head. I turned to look back one last time and saw Neji half facing me, turning back to look away from me again. My eyes lighted up as I hurried to my locker.


	2. Spending More Time

**There's honestly no point in having this A/N, I just thought the chapter would look lonely if I didn't put it in. So... yeah.**

**Disclaimer: I didn't own Naruto the last chapter, so why should I now? T.T

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Ino

Chapter Two: Spending More Time

After a while the weeks seemed like minutes. I haven't a clue how many have passed us by. All I know is that Neji and I are closer than ever, and my happiness is at an all time high. Eventually, we were spending every day together. Every minute of every day, to be exact.

Today was a special day though. A day I'd been looking forward to for a long time. My eighteenth birthday. And even though the day sped by faster than ever, after school ended for the day, life slowed down dramatically. I could keep up with everything.

Especially Neji.

Cool thing is that neither of us have homework, so we decided during third period that we wouldn't have to part as early today and were going to hang out all afternoon. After we packed everything up, he told me to follow him. I followed him all the way to the local park.

"Why are we going here?" I asked when I realized where we were.

"Because," he said, "The scenery around here is more peaceful than a classroom full of seniors."

I laughed. "That's not saying much. Just about anywhere is!"

He smirks. Yeah, we act like animals."

"All men do that, you know." I teased.

He laughed. "Only if they're with the right girl." A huge grin spread across his face. I covered my mouth and giggled. He laughed as I hit him on the shoulder, still giggling, and he pretended to fall over. That only made me laugh harder. When I didn't fall over with him, he pulled me down by the arm.

I tumbled down on top him. Our faces were only about two inches away. I blushed deeply. Both of us were breathing deeper now. We stared into each other's eyes for a long time (although it probably wasn't _that_ long a time) and did nothing else. Finally I shook myself out of it and crawled off of him. I was kind of sad to do it, but people would stare and someone from school was bound to see us. And that would suck.

I pulled my knees up close to me and wrapped my arms around them. Neji leaned back on his elbows. Neither of us looked at each other.

Then Neji broke the silence. "Sorry about that," he said. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"I wasn't uncomfortable… I got off because I thought you would be…" I said, blushing deeper. I rolled over onto my stomach so that I was lying next to him.

"I don't think I've ever been that comfortable before," he replied. I looked over at him, amazed and slightly flattered. The corners of my mouth tilted up, but only a little.

"Me either, to tell the truth."

He sat up. "It's getting late. We should start heading back," he stated.

I sighed.

He laughed. "C'mon! Get up!" he teased, pulling me up by the hand. I rolled my eyes and allowed him to pull me to my feet. He didn't really pull me very hard, but I exaggerated it and fell against his chest, laying my head right underneath his chin. I heard a small gasp leave his lips, but he calmed down when I didn't pull away from him. I felt his arms wrap around my torso.

I could've stayed there forever. I very nearly did. By the time we let go of each other, the sun had made quite a lot of progress towards the horizon. We picked up our bags, said goodbye, and headed our separate ways, looking sadder than we did at the end of school. The look wouldn't be due to leave until tomorrow, when I would see my perfect angel once more…

(()) (()) (())

The morning went by slowly, and the clock's hands seemed to freeze. Fifteen minutes took a few hours. Life was slow, boring, and empty. I couldn't have possibly been more anxious. But eventually it was time to go and things started speeding up, including my heart rate. I couldn't wait to see him again.

And about thirteen minutes later, I saw him. He was leaning up against the wall near the gym talking to some seniors I didn't, but then his eyes latched onto me and he left them, walking hurriedly over to me. I pretended not to notice him and started walking towards the front door.

"Hey there," he said as his hand touched my shoulder. I turned to look at him and found myself speechless as I stared into his eyes. After an eternity, I remembered how to talk.

"Hey. How's it going?" I replied calmly.

He smirked. "Not bad. I got here early."

"Awesome. We going to play more volleyball today, or are we doing that some other time?" We'd practices after school a few days after he asked for help. Yeah, he hadn't really needed any volleyball training, the liar. He may have thought he was horrible, but he kicked my ass rather often. We just play for fun, now.

"Today." He smiled. "Anyway… we should get to class, we're almost late as it is."

I sighed. "Fine…" I breathed. We walked off to class and talked the whole way, asking questions about each other. I had actually forgotten we were at school and almost walked right past the classroom. I would've, too, if Neji hadn't stopped at the door. I blushed as he held it open for me with a smile.

Everyone stared at us during class. It may have been because we stared at each other, or because we held hands through out the period. Whatever the reason, no one knew how to react. I even noticed Iruka gaping at us a few times. But one thought was common to everyone in that room: _How the hell did Yamanaka wind up with Hyuuga?_ And I didn't have a clue how I could possibly answer that.

_Oh well…_ I thought. _If Sakura or Hinata wants to know they'll have to come up with something of their own. They're smart enough to do at least that, right?_

(()) (()) (())

Wrong.

They hounded me about it during our second gym class. "C'mon, Ino! Tell us!" Sakura would say. I would open my mouth to complain, only to be interrupted by Hinata saying, "We can't get a peep out of him. And we're your best friends, so we deserve to know!" I rolled my eyes at that one. _That_ was her best excuse for me to tell her? _Sorry babe,_ I thought. _You're going to need more than that to get me to squeal._

I put my notebook into my locker, shut the door, and turned to them, uttering a single word. "No." One look into my eyes and they saw I was serious. They didn't care though, because they gave me the puppy-dog look. And that was hard to ignore…well, maybe not Sakura's, but Hinata had the kind of eyes that just make you want to hug her, cry your own eyes out, and just over all let her know that everything was going to be okay.

Somehow, I managed to resist… partially.

I sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you guys at lunch. But keep quiet about it, you hear me? Nothing official has happened yet, and I don't want to ruin anything." I turned and left before they could say anything else.

From behind, I heard two girl's impatient whispering and giggles, followed by the faint sound of feet bouncing off the ground.

(()) (()) (())

Stepping out of the locker room and onto the gym floor, I searched feverently for Neji. It was quite a while before I found him. But there he was, standing next to the doorway, talking to some other seniors who were skipping class. And he wasn't looking too happy. I could see his already pale skin stretched white over his clenched fists.

I put on my innocent-girl face and walked over to them. One of the other guys looked up at me with a glare and bumped the other guy, nodding in my direction. The other senior dude and Neji looked over at me. The first guy said something and the two laughed, but Neji threw something at him, which made the two laugh harder.

I was about five feet away from them when I heard Neji quietly but sharply whisper, "Just shut up. Why don't you go beat up some middle-school kids or something? That's what you do for fun, isn't it?" and turn and walk away. Right over to me.

"What was all that about?" I asked sweetly. I tilted my head sideways and peered up at him through my lashes.

He shook his head. "Nothing, just some jerks mouthing off about things they don't know about."

"Oh."

He looked over his shoulder to make sure they weren't there still.


	3. The Start of Something New

**Yeah... sorry that this chapter is so short... I didn't realize it until I was uploading and I was too happy to be able to upload it to change it. It's not really a filler, but... I thought it was... okay... :shrugs: I'd love it if you'd review it, you know, to keep me from accidentally making a real filler.**

**Disclaimer: Nope. I still don't own Naruto *goes off into a corner and cries myself to sleep***

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Ino

Chapter Three: The Start of Something New

School was uneventful for the rest of the day. I heard nothing more about the jerk seniors. I told Sakura and Hinata about the park, but left out the part about me falling on him… and the hugging. They seemed unsatisfied with what they heard. They thought it sounded boring. And to tell the truth, it did sound boring. Since I left out the falling and the hugging, all they really heard about was us talking. It was a short convesation.

I thought the day was more boring, though. I couldn't remember anything that had happened five minutes previously because everything was so… _dull._ Before I knew it, I was sitting in chemistry with my head on the cold black table, eyes half shut, mouth half open, when the bell rings and every kid is getting up eagerly. Neji said he swore he saw my head go through the roof.

We were talking about it all the way down to the gym. Well, I guess it would go more along the line of me listening to him talk and laugh about it. Although, when he got to the part about me laying half-asleep in chemistry looking sheepishly into nowhere, I couldn't help but smirk. And giggle slightly.

But when we walked into the gym, the laughter stopped. Leaning again the bleachers was a thoroughly unhappy Uchiha. Three guesses who he was glaring at. None other than the brunette at my side. Nothing other than the way our hands were intertwined.

"Hyuuga." He said coldly. "Ino." His eyes flashed to me. I could see a flicker of emotion, supposedly unknown to the Uchiha, in his eyes. Hurt.

_What the hell is Uchiha butt-sore about?_ I thought angrily.

"What're _you_ doing down here, Uchiha?" Neji asked him. I swear the glare the two held was tangible. And I didn't know which glare was scarier. The 'I'm-about-to-kick-your-ass' look from Uchiha or the 'What're-you-looking-at?-Back-off' glare from Neji. They both were frightening to a point.

"I could ask the same thing to you." The raven-haired boy replied sharply. He looked at Neji disdainfully. "And you, Ino. Why are you hanging around _him_? Shouldn't you be with Sakura, or better yet, at home?"

I rolled my eyes. "I can be wherever I damn well please." I said, letting the acid seep into my voice. "What's it to you?"

He snorted. "Nothing, nothing. Just curious as to why you two were holding hands." His eyebrow arched, and his lips formed a menacing grin.

"Do I detect a hint of… what's this? Jealousy?" Neji said sarcastically. The raven-haired boy glared. "It _is_ jealousy!" he mocked.

The Uchiha shrugged. "Whatever you say, Hyuuga." He pushed passed us, uttering. "Whatever you say."


	4. A Reason For Uchiha's Jealousy

**Yeah, I was originally just going to make the story from Ino's POV, but I thought, '**_**ah heck. Neji's already OOC, so why not make it official?' **_**J****ust btw, if his OOCness made you sad, I have an explanation. You see, Neji liked the blonde already (not that she knew at the time) and didn't want to scare her off. So he showed her the side of him no one else ever saw... Anyhoo... onto the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: *sigh* I STILL don't own Naruto. Dammit.**

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Neji

A Reason For Uchiha's Jealousy

As Ino and I watched the raven-haired boy leave, I wondered why he was being such an ass. _Could he really be jealous?_ I thought. When I said it, I was only trying to piss him off, just wanting to push his buttons. I didn't think about it, it was all impulse. I said the first thing that came to mind, nothing more. But when I saw the reaction… I stopped and thought about it. I saw real, fiery jealousy in his eyes as he looked at me.

I shuddered. Being friends with Ino could be more dangerous than I thought. Even though I was at least a year older than him, everybody knew that Uchiha was not someone you wanted to get in a fight with. Neither of us were. If we were to fight, neither one of us would leave without a scar or two.

But then I saw Ino look at me worriedly. I had totally spaced out on her, just to think about fighting. _What kind of a friend_are_you?_I thought. I then sighed. _Wish I was more than just a friend. Then, maybe, Uchiha would have a real reason to hate me. And I'd have an even better reason to fight for it… but more people than just him to fight off. Ino _is_beautiful, after all. I'd have half the guys in school hot on my trail if we dated._ Not that I would mind. Dating her would be worth it. But then I chuckled as another thought popped into my head. _I might have few girls pissed at me, too._

"Neji?" _Well fuck, I did it again._ I scolded myself as I once again slipped back into reality. Ino really was looking at me worriedly now. She waved her hands in front of my face, trying to snap me out of it.

"Right, sorry about that… kind of spaced there."

She laughed. "Yeah, I noticed that." Her bright blue eyes glimmered as the murky depths of worry became two vast oceans of amusement. She playfully tossed her hair and said, "Well… if I'm not mistaken, we have a date with a volleyball net."

I chuckled.

(()) (()) (())

Half an hour later, both of us were sitting on the bench near the door panting. I was exhausted. Ino really had a lot of stamina, and she was fierce with the volleyball. I was _so_very thankful that she was on my team during gym. I was not up for having my ass handed to me every day. I could now understand why everybody groaned when they went against our team. It must be a living hell going against us.

Nonetheless, Ino still beat me, 7-5.

"Man, Ino… you're a beast."

"No… I got lucky on the first one… I _never_ serve line…" she pants out. "And the last one, you were just not paying attention."

For some reason, when I looked at Ino, I saw someone other than my best (possibly my only) friend. I saw someone I wanted. Someone I _needed._ I _needed_ so much to reach out and hold her. But I didn't. _I probably wouldn't be able to anyway._ I reasoned. _If I'm able to walk after this, it'll be a miracle. _I wasn't used to this. Part of me kept screaming, "Just reach out and hold her. I'm sure she wouldn't mind," while the other was another saying, "No! She's just a friend; nothing more."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ino look at me. Not just look at me, but really _look_ at me. She seemed so innocent, the way her eyes swept over me wistfully. Like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time. And trust me, it did nothing to help me keep from holding her.

"Neji… may I?" she asked, holding out her hand.

My heart stopped. "…May you what?" She tilted her head slightly, causing her golden bang to fall partially in front of her eye. She looked playful, but calm and sincere as well.

"Please… just say yes…" she whispered, leaning forward.

"Alright…?"

And before I knew it, the beautiful blonde had her arms wrapped around me and her head rested on my chest. Yet somehow, I wasn't tense. I hugged her back, like I had known this was what she had wanted all along. And every part of it just felt right, like we were the only two pieces left of a puzzle, and we fit so perfectly together, not needing anyone else to complete out own little picture. I couldn't help but tilt her head up enough that I could kiss her.

At first, she did nothing; she just sat there and let me kiss her. But then, she kissed back hungrily. Like if she wasted anything about this moment, her life could end. She placed her hand where her head had been on my chest while I weaved my hands into her hair. Our mouths parted…

And she pulled away, gasping for air with her head tilted downward. I could see that her eyes were still closed, as if she was re-experiencing the kiss over again in her mind. And then, her lovely ocean eyes fluttered open, and she looked at me with a smile. I gave another swift kiss before she let her head fall onto my chest once more. I don't know how long we sat there, but it seemed to go by in an instant.

Soon the light coming from the windows became darker, and looking out of them we saw a pool of orange and pink.

"Lets go outside… I like sunsets," Ino told me quietly. I nodded, and we stood up from the chair and walked outside, my arms wrapped around her shoulders, her arm around my waist, and her head resting lightly on my shoulder. We sat on a hill facing the sunset, still as stone, except for me occasionally turning my head and kissing her forehead, or her burying her head in my neck.

We sat there till the darkest shade of purple was gone, and the sky was now a velvet blanket of darkness. I walked her home, still holding onto her, her still holding onto me. When we got to her house, I kissed her softly before letting her escape my arms. I left before she opened the door, as to not be seen by her parents, especially her father. He could find out later.

(()) (()) (())

Later, at my own house, my uncle scolded me about how late it was the minute I walked in the room. Hinata looked at me apprehensively, inquisitively. I just walked by the both, straight into my room. I heard my uncle complain about how 'irresponsible' I was. It went on for a few minutes, but died down to an occasional murmur. A few minutes later, I heard a quiet knock on my door.

"Yes?"

The door cracked open, and I saw Hinata pop in her head. "Neji-nii-san, may I speak with you?" she asked quietly. I nodded. The blue head of hair retreated and her body entered my room, slowly closing the door behind her. "Neji… were you with Ino?"

"Why?"

"I got a call from her parents… they were worried sick about her."

"Well, yeah… we were together…" I blushed slightly, recalling how we spent our afternoon.

"Neji-nii-san, be careful with her… she's not like-"

"I know what she's like, Hinata!" I snapped. "I've spent a hell of a lot of time with her. I know _exactly_ what she's like."

"Neji-nii-san, forgive me. I did not mean to make you upset, nor did I mean to pry. I am merely looking out for a friend. I apologize," she said quietly.

I sighed. It's damn near impossible to stay mad at that girl. "It's okay, Hinata. You meant well." I put my hand on her shoulder to reassure her that I wasn't mad. "But I would never, ever hurt her. I… I think I love her. "

The girl gasped. "You… you love her?"


	5. That Bastard Uchiha

**Well... thats freaky... I finished the chapter way sooner than I thought I would. Pretty tite if you ask me. Unfortunatly, I've had enough for the night, so I won't be starting on the next chappy tonite. Torry. Don't be surprised if nothing new is up tomorrow - I have some things planned with a friend early in the morning. Annyyyyyyyhoo... story time. :D**

**Disclaimer: Right now... I'm to tired to own Naruto, or come up with a better reason why I don't.

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**

_Ino_

Chapter Five: That Bastard Uchiha

I tiptoed around my house quietly, trying to avoid my parents. I looked around quickly, that quietly ran to my room. I had thought I was going to get away with being out so late: all I had to do is slip into my bed and 'sleep' innocently until my parents come in and tell them I got in at seven, but was really tired, so went to sleep as soon as I got home. It was all planned out, and it was going to work… right?

Wrong.

Three guesses who was on my bed when I burst into my room. Scared the shit out of my mother, who was on the verge of tears as it was.

When she saw me, her eyes lit up, but her eyebrows furrowed. "Ino! Where have you been? Your father and I have been so worried about you!" She grabbed my arms and kissed my forehead like she had when I was a kid, drawing me into a tearful hug that was only tearful on her part. I hugged back halfheartedly, reminded immediately of Neji. I wished so much that I could be in _his_ arms right now. But I loved my mother, too, so I played along till she was under control.

Finally, she pulled away from me. "You _do_ realize that you are in _so_ much trouble, right, young lady?"

I glared. "For what? Haven't you always told me go out and get a life and hang out with people? Because that's what I was doing!"

She shook her head. "There are limits. Curfew being one of them, Ino."

"Well, you know what I think about curfews?"

"Ino, Ino… I know exactly what you think of them. You don't need to soil my ears with you're father's language. Honestly, don't you think I get enough of that from him? I don't need my baby using it, too."

Rolling my eyes, I said, "Too bad. I use it anyway."

"Fine," she sighed. "Just not around me…" Then she tilted her head and thought for a second. "So who was it that you were hanging out with? We called all of your friends, and they all say you haven't talked to them in ages."

I blushed. "I… I met this one guy at school… and me and him –"

"WHAT?"

I jumped at my mother's shriek.

"You have a _boy_friend?"

"Well… um… I didn't think…"

"Inoichi! Get in here!" my mother called to my dad. My father immediately poked his head into my room.

"What'd I do this time?" he said scornfully.

"Nothing, its your daughter. Apparently, our baby girl found a _boyfriend_."

My dad laughed and looked at me. "Good for you, sweetie! Who's the lucky boy? Is it Kiba? How about Naruto? He's a good looking boy."

I blushed more. "…Hyuuga Neji…" I said quietly.

My dad's eyes bulged. I think I saw him choke a little too. "Hyuuga Neji? That bastard is my baby girl's _boyfriend_? He's so-"

"You two don't even know him!" I was steaming; furious. I wouldn't say a thing to my father till he apologized about that. I walked right past my mother, sat down on my bed, crossed my arms and looked away from my parents. When I didn't look back to them, I said, "You guys can go now." I glanced over, just to observe their leaving. My dad was running his hands through his hair agitatedly, and my mother was biting her fingernails. I said nothing more, and they looked at each other before left.

(()) (()) (())

A few weeks later, after we had become a legit couple, I woke up to find the concrete wet from a night of rain: the rain was supposed to start back up again around the end of the school day, if the weatherman was to be trusted at all. The rain delighted me, and I was sure Neji would like it too. And – I snickered – no matter what, Neji and I were hanging out after school today: rain or no rain. Although I more often than not enjoy being dry, I hoped it would rain, and rain hard. The thought of seeing Neji in a wet T-shirt… the mental image was pretty much drool-worthy. _Funny,_ I thought. _I bet you he'd say the same thing for me._

After a short drive up to school and a few minutes-time to find a parking spot, I stepped out of my truck, only taking a second to make sure it was locked. As soon as I knew it'd be there when I got out of school for the day, I headed off to find the one person that truly meant something to me.

I was a few feet away from the outdoor cafeteria when I saw him. And Uchiha. Guess who wasn't looking too happy? I don't know about you, but I could think of three individuals who we're not happy campers: Neji, Uchiha, and me.

I walked over there hurriedly, closing the gap between us as fast as I could. I soon heard Uchiha say "You don't know her like I do, Hyuuga. I've known her since diapers. And you? You met her just a few months ago! What the hell did you do to her to make her like you, huh?"

I stopped and gaped.

_The hell,_I thought, _i__s Uchiha talking about?_I boiled with disdain. With hate. _What right does that bastard have talk like that? I…I can't believe him! And besides, I've known Neji for a long time, too._

Neji simply replied "If you _did_ in fact know her for that long, and you haven't shown any feelings towards her, why are you so pissed at me? If you wanted her, you should've taken her a long time ago." Neji scowled. "So you have no one but yourself to blame. I saw my opportunity, and I took it. With a beauty like Ino, you can't waste time. Because if you do, before you know it, someone will snatch her away."

"Snatch her away… Sounds like a plan. Thanks, Hyuuga. I think I'll do just that. Better watch out," the Uchiha replied cockily. His grin was impure, and I could see how he wanted me: as nothing more than a playtoy.

Neji raised an eyebrow.

"Like _hell_ you will!" I shouted. Both Neji's and Uchiha's eyes flashed to me, each displaying a different emotion. Neji being calm, relaxed, with a hint of smugness in his eyes, while Uchiha looking tense, maybe even scared. Served him right.

I stormed up to him, gaining many stares in the process. Not that they mattered. They were just looks, their meaning lost within a woman's rage. My rage.

The moment Uchiha saw me headed towards him, he started easing back unsurely. About the time that I was within hitting distance of him, he started taking real steps back, but his expression was now over-cocky as always. "What're you going to do to me, Ino? Miss, 'Omigosh! Sasuke! I love you!' What're you going to do?" he teased.

I lost it. Went completely psychopath-berserk. "DAMN IT! I NEVER, EVER, EVER LOVED YOU! YOU WERE ALWAYS TOO CAUGHT UP IN YOURSELF TO NOTICE IT WAS ALL JUST A COVER! AND WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO JUDGE ME? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO JUDGE NEJI?" I shrieked.

The smirk faded from his face, replaced by a fake pout. "To think," he said in a mocking-sad tone. "I was going to ask you out this Friday. Shame my planned-date said things like that to me. It's unbelievable," he said.

Neji finally chose to step in. I about to either go totally ballistic or break down entirely, but then he pulled me in close and hugged me, stroking my hair, telling me to calm down; that I didn't need to waste energy on Uchiha. I let my head fall forward to rest on his shoulder, partially to keep anyone but Neji from knowing my eyes were tearing up. Neji kissed my neck softly and swiftly. He gently swayed us back and forth, doing everything he could to try and make me feel better. I clutched him and continued to cry, though whether it was out of offense and hurt or pure rage was unclear, to even me.

Eventually, principal Tsunade came down to see what was going on. Her face displayed a distinct boredom as she gathered up the students and sent them off to class. Finally, everyone but Neji, I and Uchiha were left. "You three," the principal said very business-like, "Will come with me… Now." She accentuated the last word.

Neji and Uchiha nodded stiffly, but all I did was hold on to my boyfriend.

Above us, the clouds started to gather. The rain started to fall, as if the sky was crying just for me.


	6. Looking Back

**Yay, I already got the next chappy up!! Three days, thats not bad, eh? Anyway, this chapter was kinda hard cause Sasuke's just a natural bitch when it comes to keeping him in character. So sorry if it's not the best, next one will be a lot better, I promise... unless you think this rocks, than it won't be any better what so ever... lols. Anyhoo, read on!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Ino wouldn't be named Ino, because Ino isn't a pig.**

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Sasuke

Chapter Six: Looking Back

I don't know what possessed me to confront Hyuuga. I guess I was just tired of watching the love sick couple be together, especially since it was comprised of Hyuuga and Ino, the latter being the important one. I guess I wanted Ino to look at me like she did at the brunette. I guess I was jealous.

-Flash Back-

_I saw Hyuuga leaning against a wall, talking with some of his friends, telling them he wouldn't be able to hang out with them after school. When they asked why not, he said, "Ino is helping me with volleyball in the gym today." The other boys chuckled._

"_Ino, you mean that hot blonde chick that's headed toward the building?" I heard one of them say. Both me and the Hyuuga turned to look at Ino at the same time. When his eyes latched onto her, he said, "Yep, that'd be her. I'll see you later guys." The boys looked like they were about to say something to him, but he walked off before the words could leave their lips._

_He walked right over to Ino and grabbed her from behind, placing one hand on her shoulder and the other on her waist. I clenched my jaw. Seeing him touch her so familiarly did nothing to improve my mood. I was an inch away from going up to them and pounding Hyuuga senseless. _

_But then the two walked off, leaving me alone outside, giving me room to chill before heading to class. It was bound to be a long day._

_(()) (()) (())_

_Finally, the end of the school day came, and I hurried off to my locker, then off to the gym. I got there and the big room was empty, so I leaned against the bleachers to wait. Sure enough, the blonde and the brunette came a few minutes later, laughing about something stupid Ino had done in the most previous class. But then they spotted me, and the laughter stopped. I glared at Hyuuga, and he followed suit. Ino didn't quite _glare_ at me, but she didn't look too happy about seeing me there._

"_Hyuuga, Ino." I said, letting acid seep from my voice at the first word, but softening up at the second._

"_The hell are you doing here, Uchiha?" said the white-eyed boy, his tone dripping with acid as well. We continued to glare at each other._

"_I could ask the same thing to you." I snapped. Looking at Ino, I added "And you, Ino, shouldn't you be with Sakura, or better yet, at home?" I let the slightest amount of concern into my eyes. _

_Apparently, she didn't notice it. "I can be wherever I damn well please!" she said coldly. "What's it to you?" Now she really was glaring at me._

'_Damn.' I thought. 'She's not very happy with me. But I can't let her get the better of me, so I might as well...' "Nothing, nothing." I replied. "I was just curious as to why you two were holding hands." I grinned, putting on my mask of harsh but fake emotions. I felt like apologizing and holding Ino close to me, under my mask, but the Sasuke Uchiha she knew wanted nothing more than to embarrass Hyuuga._

_I must not have been doing a very good job, though, because the Hyuuga was the one who responded to that comment. "Do I detect a hint of… what's this? Jealousy?" he said mockingly. 'Yes, I'm deeply jealous of you, Hyuuga' I thought. But I didn't say so. I just glared at him. A few moments later, he added, "It _is_ jealousy!" in fake astonishment. _

_I continued to glare, but I shrugged. "Whatever you say, Hyuuga. Whatever you say." I pushed past the two, making my way back to the student parking lot. Soon as I got to my car, I was heading off to the highway, where I would use my entire tank of gas up mindlessly driving my worries away…_

-End of Flash Back-

Now the damned principal was making a big fuss over the blonde's outburst. And she was dragging me along with her, while the Hyuuga will no doubt be told to head back to class as soon as the beautiful blonde is calmed down. I looked at him jealously when I was sure his attention was on Ino. I wanted to be the one comforting her, holding her, telling her it'd be okay, but I wasn't.

"Alright, I'm just going to get straight to the point. What the hell – I mean – what exactly was that?" the Tsunade asked us.

"Uchiha is an asshole, that's what happened." Ino said ruthlessly through her tears.

I said nothing and stared out the window at the sky, which was now dripping raindrops.

"That's not what happened." She replied.

"Uchiha is jealous of me and Ino." Hyuuga said quietly but hatefully. "He and I were arguing about it and Ino overheard him say something that she really didn't like. So, she kind of… exploded."

I snorted. "Yeah, _only_ kind of."

"Shut _up_, Uchiha!" Ino screamed, burying her face into Hyuuga's shoulder again. He glared at me, holding her protectively.

"Sasuke, since when are you one to cause trouble? Aren't you the student council president?" Tsunade asked me. I shrugged, still not meeting anyone's eyes. "Tell you guys what, I'll let you guys off the hook if you stay away from each other. No strings attached – this time. If it happens again, I won't be too happy with any of you." (A/N: sorry, couldn't think of a good punishment for relationship problems… Lols) Ino nodded, still clutching Hyuuga, who also nodded. I shrugged again. "Real quick, Neji, come here. Ino, Sasuke, go to class, he'll only be a minute."

Ino gave Neji a glance that said 'Don't leave me!!'. Tsunade noted this, and said, "Alright, you can stay, Ino. But Sasuke, go to class. And no," she said when I started asking for a pass. "I'm not writing any passes. You guys will just have to be late."

(()) (()) (())

I knew my teacher wasn't going to be too happy about being late to class, so I headed outside and sat on the wet benches. Ino and Hyuuga were no doubt doing the same thing, but somewhere else on the premises. I glared at my feet. _This is stupid! _I thought. Sighing, I chucked a rock about forty feet in whatever direction my arm went - which was in the direction of the student parking lot. The rock ended up plowing itself into the window of a Chevy, of which the alarm went off. "Shit." I mumbled angrily, walking into the building, melding into the crowd of students leaving class. I heard someone cry, "What the HELL happened to my truck?" somewhere behind me as I made my way to the science lab. I couldn't help but chuckle.

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**See... I toldcha it sucked... lols**


	7. Shattered Window, Invitation Inside

**Yeah, Uchiha got lucky Ino didn't know who it was. But this chapter is kinda filler-ish. It's like, all mush. Which isn't like me, but hey, it's a romance... Why I choose to write a romance, I am completly oblivious. After I finish this, I think I'll be writing a suspense story... idk. maybe.**

**Naruto: If I owned Naruto, NaruXHina, NejiXIno, and SasuXSaku would be. But its not, so I guess I'm still just an obsessed fan. T.T**

Ino

Chapter Seven: Shattered Window, Invitation Inside

_- After School -_

"What the HELL happened to my truck?!" I screamed when I saw the shattered windshield. I walked over to it angrily to try and find the thing that broke it and Neji followed behind me quietly. I looked inside my truck to see a rock about as big as my fist sitting on the seat. I picked it up cautiously, looking it over, deciding whether or not I was going to chuck at someone/something. I heard a chuckle from behind me.

"What's so damn funny?" I asked angrily, turning to look at Neji.

"Sorry," he replied. "But you're cute when you're pissed. Like you're about to throw that rock somewhere." He grinned and laughed again.

"Well I'm glad you think so." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "Seriously, shouldn't you be pissed like me? Someone threw a rock at my truck…"

"Nah," he said. "It gives me a chance to drive you home." He quietly added, "And possibly spend money on you…"

"No way! You are _not_ paying for this!"

He gave me the puppy-dog look. "Please?"

I looked away but shook my head. "No. Lets go home… you're driving." I turned and walked away, knowing he'd follow.

(()) (()) (())

Neji pulled up in front of my house. "Want to come in? Nobodies home." I offered.

He shrugged. "Okay." He agreed.

I grinned. "C'mon then." I got out and ran up the steps two at a time, then pulled open the door. Neji walked in suspiciously. "Didn't I _just_ say no one was home?" I said with a laugh.

He chuckled stupidly to himself. "Better safe than sorry. For all we know, your dad could be hiding in a closet just waiting for us to start making out so he can kill me."

I grinned. "Well then, lets block the closet doors." I offered jokingly. He smiled.

"Nah, I'll pass. A legal kiss is never as good as a stolen one." He said, leaning down to brush his lips against mine. I felt the butterflies in my stomach take flight, and I swear I felt my feet float off the ground. By the time he leaned away I felt totally airborne. I smiled at him sheepishly.

"Couldn't say it better myself." I stated breathlessly. He laughed, pulling me onto the couch and into his lap, wrapping his arms around me and kissing my cheek.

"I love you Ino-chan." He said sincerely.

I snuggled up against his chest. "I love you, too, Neji-kun." I kissed him quickly, then hugged him and closed my eyes. I felt him bury his face in my hair, then next thing I knew, the world was black, but warm. I felt his strong arms around me, and I was swept away into a blissful sleep, filled with the face of my lover.

(()) (()) (())

Soon I was waking from my dream, still wrapped in his arms. My eyes fluttered open to see the most amazing man in my universe – or the only man – it doesn't matter which. Both describe him perfectly.

He leaned down and kissed my forehead. "How was your nap, love?"

I stole a kiss from his lips before he could lean away. "It was good, but I hope I didn't bore you."

"You did nothing of the sort. I was perfectly content - you're somehow even more beautiful when you sleep."

"Who is this, Ino?" said a voice from the doorway. Neji and I looked to see my father standing there with a vein sticking out of his forehead.

I blushed like mad. "Umm… dad, meet Neji. Neji-kun, this is my father, Inoichi." I looked warily at Neji to see him blushing almost as bad as I was.

"Hello, sir." He said respectfully.

My dad walked forward slowly. "Hello. Ino, may I ask what the hell he is doing in my house?"

I glared. "He's my guest. Got a problem with that?"

"Yes."

"Ino, please, don't fight with him over me. I'll leave if he wants me to."

"No!" I said, holding onto him tighter. "You're not going anywhere."

"Yes he-" my dad started.

"No, damn it, he is NOT!!" I shouted. "Unless I go with him, he stays."

"You will do nothing of the sort, young lady!"

I continued to glare. "Dad, I have a license, I can go wherever I damn well please."

"Ino, please, I don't want you getting in trouble because of me." Neji said quietly.

"Neji…" I said, looking softly at him. "I don't want him treating you like this. It's not fair, and you know it."

"I don't care-"

"But I do! Why do you to have to argue with me?"

"Because I love you." They said at the same time.

I raised an eyebrow. "I see why Neji is arguing, but, dad, how does your not wanting Neji here show you love me? If you really do love me, you'll let him stay." I said.

The vein started popping out further.

"Ino…"

"Ino…"

"What, dammit?!"

Neji sighed. My dad shook his head, running a hand through his hair like he does when he's pissed. Neji's grip on me tightened as my dad started speaking.

"But… fine, whatever. I'm going out, I'll be back in a few hours. If he's here when I get back, Ino…" he drifted off, signaling he would _not _be happy.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." My dad turned and slammed the door behind him.

"Ino, why did you do that? I don't want him mad at you."

I kissed him, telling him I didn't want to talk. "If we only have that little while, we shouldn't waste it with mindless chatting." I said, breaking away only long enough to get those few words spoken. At first his eyes were wide with surprise, but they soon closed and he started kissing back. I wove my hands into his hair and he held my face, making sure I would break the kiss. Slowly, I traced my tongue along his bottom lip.

_I still can't believe he fell for me. _I thought, placing my hands on his chest as his tongue made its way through my mouth. _It's all just too good to be true._ I was starting to feel lightheaded, whether it was from kissing him or the lack of oxygen, I didn't know. All I knew was that Neji and I were in love, and that nothing else mattered. _Is love always like this?_

**Bleh. I didn't really like this one, too much mush. But, I'd absolutly love a review, you know, to make me do better on the next chapter. I derrive my motivation from reviews! so pleasepleaseplease review!!**

**arigatou**

**TheLextacyBlossom**


	8. Protective Much?

**Yayz!! I finally got the next chappy up! Sorry it took so much longer for this update, I had a small case of writers block and a camp to go to, so yeahz... I'd just like to thank Alicia Kawa Uchiha for her awesome-ass _constructive_ criticism! It helped so much! And many thanks to Blonde.Mindblower and deathrosekitty, who also helped out a lot. You guys rock my socks off!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't friggin own Naruto. My proof? I'm friggin broke. I have fifteen bucks. I'd have like fifteen-billion bucks if I _did_ own Naruto. But I don't, so you can't friggin sue me! Ha!**

Neji

Chapter Eight: Protective Much?

Last night ran through my head as I drove up to Ino's house. I was picking her up for school, and I didn't know how her father would react if he saw me. I hoped and prayed that he wouldn't. He and I weren't exactly on the best of terms…

_-Flash Back-_

_I felt bad as I watched Inoichi storm out of the house. I understood why he was being so… protective. Ino was his baby-girl, and I was just some guy that was stealing her away. I would have reacted worse had I been in his place._

_But as I was lost in thought, Ino tightened her grip on me and snuggled in closer, burying her face in my chest. I wrapped my arms around her, shielding her from anything and everything. We talked some, flirted a little, but for a long time, all we did was sit there._

_Finally, Ino started looking sleepy again. "I think I should get going now, you need your sleep. And I don't want to be here when your father gets home." I whispered in her ear._

_She looked at me with horrified eyes and held me even tighter. "No!!" she cried. "I… I don't want you to go…" she added quietly, as if thinking aloud and not really talking._

_I placed my hand on the back of her head, pulling her face close enough to kiss her. I felt all her tension melt away as her eyes closed and she kissed back. I felt her tongue slide across my lower lip._

_I slowly ran my hands down the bare skin of her arms. She leaned her head back as I kissed her neck softly._

_I leaned up to her ear. "I'm going to leave, now, okay?" I whispered._

_Her head fell forward as she locked her eyes onto me with her irresistible puppy-dog look. "Neji…" she breathed sadly. I saw the water collect in her eyes as they started to sparkle even more than their usual._

_I laughed quietly. "After all that, I'm _still_ not allowed to leave?" I asked._

_She looked away wordlessly, possibly trying to hide the tears that were obviously starting to overflow._

_I sighed silently and pulled her into my arms once more._

_-End Flash Back-_

I pulled up to the curb, still praying that Inoichi wouldn't see the foreign vehicle in front of his house. But, sadly, I heard a crash inside the house and quite a bit of yelling. "Ouch…" I whispered to myself. Ino came bursting out of the house in her sailor-jacket and mini-skirt uniform with an angry father trailing behind her. "Shit…"

"Hold up one second, Hyuuga!" Inoichi ordered. "Just what do you think you're doing here?"

I blushed slightly. "Your daughter needed a ride to school, so I offered her one…" I stammered. _Holy hell. This man is fuckin' scary! _I thought.

"Dad, go back inside. It's not like he's kidnapping me, it's just a ride to and from school. So go. _Now_." Ino told him sternly as she opened the car door and sat down. "Lets go, we're going to be late." She added, just barely loud enough for her father to hear.

"Ino." Inoichi said angrily. "Get out of that bastard's car right now."

"No." she replied with a glare. "Neji," she added, turning to look at me pleadingly. "Let's go." I nodded and started the car.

"_Ino!_" Her father yelled as I pulled away from the curb. "You are _so _grounded for this!"

"Fine. Whatever. I'll see you later, dad." She said sharply. She told me to get going without moving her lips. One look and I could tell she needed to get away from him. So I pushed the gas pedal down and drove her away from her house, her father, and hopefully, from her worries.

(()) (()) (())

"You okay, Ino?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.

Her eyes sparkled brilliantly as they flitted over to me. "Yeah," she sighed. "Just a little… I don't know, sad, I guess."

I nodded silently as I pulled into the student parking lot. I got out and started walking over to Ino, which had already started towards the building. "Hey, wait a sec," I said quietly. As she turned to look at me quizzically, I wrapped her in a hug. I felt how tense she was, but it all melted away in my arms. Ino closed her eyes and leaned her head against my shoulder, then tilted her head up to brush her lips against mine.

"Thanks, love." She whispered. Her beautiful blue eyes looked at me wistfully. "You always know just what to do."

"I try." I responded with a sincere smile, playing with a strand of her silky blonde hair.

"Lets go, we're late."

I nodded and kissed her swiftly before turning to walk with her to the building, my arm around her shoulder, her arm around my waist and her head on my shoulder.

(()) (()) (())

As we walked into the room, Iruka and all the students turned to look at us, still wrapped around each other. They shouldn't be surprised, though. They've been seeing us together for ages. So why did they looked so shocked to see us holding each other? Just yesterday they saw me hold Ino, comfort her. Did they look that way yesterday? I didn't know. I hadn't paid attention to them.

Iruka coughed. "Ahem, as I was saying…" he said, turning back to his students and continuing his lecture. The blonde and I made our way to our usual seats as the other teenagers turned their attention back to the teacher in the front of the classroom.

All through the class, Ino's head rested on my shoulder. I don't know if she even paid attention to Iruka, or if she was even awake, but I knew that she was there, and that was enough, conscious or not.

During gym, we sat out, much to the other team's delight and our team's dismay. But never the less, Ino and I sat on a bench, her head still resting near mine, my arms still wrapped around her. Through all the classes, Chiaki sensei's, Asuma sensei's, Kureni sensei's, Kakashi sensei's. All of them, we sat and held each other.

(()) (()) (())

"We ready?" I asked her as she looked hesitantly at the car. I could tell she did _not_ want to go home. But then again, neither did I.

"Do we have to go straight home? Can't we hang out or something?" she asked hopefully.

"Uh… that may not be the a very good idea. The later you come home, the more thoroughly your father is going to kill me." I said.

One look from her ocean-blue eyes said she would do anything to stay away from her father.

I sighed. "Alright, where do you want to go, love?"

"Anywhere but there."

"Okay then." I kissed her briefly before opening her door. "I have something in mind for you, then."

She smiled brightly. "I can't wait to see it."


	9. Meeting the Family

**Yayz! I got this one up pretty fast! My thanks goes out to deathrosekittty, who gave me the whole idea for this chappy... even though it kinda sucked. I didn't really get a chance to delve into this one... my 7 and 9 year old cousins were visiting so I kinda had this huge din of arguing kids right behind me. So sorry deathrosekitty and all my beloved readers if this chapter isn't what you expected.**

**Disclaimer: If I own Naruto, I wouldn't have the time to write this story, nor the need. But since this is the second update within two days, I guess I still just have an unhealthy obsession for it. T.T**

**Dedication: To all my readers. You all absolutely rock. ;D**

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Ino

Chapter Nine: Meeting the Family

At first I thought Neji was going to take me to a fancy restaurant or something, but when he pulled up to a neighborhood chuck-full of huge houses, I realized he was taking me to meet his family. Of course, I already knew Hinata, but in all our years of being friends, I never actually got to see her house. I heard Neji chuckle when my mouth popped open.

"This is your big surprise?! Holy hell." I said, astonished. "Let me guess… the biggest house is yours?" I added, pointing to the one farthest away, but still noticeably bigger.

He nodded. "Yup."

"Oh God." I whispered.

Another chuckle.

My breathing became shallower as he pulled up to the house. I'd never realized that I was dating a member of one of the richest families in Japan. And one of the most stern, Hinata and Neji being the exceptions. I gulped.

"Relax." He said calmly. "I know they'll love you, Hinata already does. You have nothing to worry about." I nodded unsurely.

The car stopped. Neji came around and opened my door, planting a kiss on my cheek before helping me out. "It's alright, Ino." He assured me. I was still nervously holding onto him by the time his uncle had come to the door to greet us.

"Ah, you must be miss Yamanaka. I've heard many things about you from Neji-san and Hinata-chan. I am Hyuuga Hiashi. Please, come in." He said. Neji started slipping out of his shoes and I did the same.

"Arigatou." I said shyly.

I walked in and saw Hinata-chan sitting in a beautiful antique armchair, sipping some tea. When she saw me, her eyes lightened up and she set down the tea so that she could run over and hug me. "Ino!" she cried.

I smiled and laughed as Hinata hugged me tightly. I saw Neji grin a little too. I guess he doesn't really see his cousin happy like this all the time.

"It's good to see you, too, Hinata-chan."

Hinata let go and whispered into my ear, "So I guess you guys made it official?" I blushed like mad. I guess Neji heard it, too, because his face was getting red as well. I nodded slightly, still blushing.

"So, Neji, is miss Yamanaka going to be able to stay for dinner?" Hiashi asked.

"I don't know," he replied. "I'm not sure her father knows she's here…"

Hiashi frowned slightly. "I'll go take care of that, then." He said as he turned to leave the room. Neji and Hinata nodded.

"Ino-chan, Neji-nii-san, lets sit down." Hinata offered.

Neji and I followed Hinata to the couches over by a vast fireplace. I swear, everything in that house was oversized and very expensive-looking. The room was floored with smooth willow planks and had many fur rugs (I couldn't tell if they were real or not…), expensive pieces of artwork, and Hyuuga family portraits. The couches alone looked like they were worth at least half of my house.

"I'm almost afraid to sit on these… they're probably worth a fortune…" I whispered to Neji. He chuckled.

"Don't worry, if you break anything, you don't have to buy it."

"Oh, thanks."

Another chuckle escaped him as he pulled me onto the couch and onto his lap. As I rested my head on his shoulder, his arms wound their way around my waist. Hinata sat across from us, in the same armchair she had been in before, and continued to sip her tea.

"So, Ino-chan, how've you been lately? I haven't been able to talk to you for much too long a time."

"I've been great." I replied simply and sweetly. "You've got the most amazing cousin ever, Hinata-chan." Hinata laughed and I could feel Neji's face grow warm, but he kissed my forehead and hugged me tighter.

"I'm glad." She said.

"So how about you, Hina? How've you been? Have you gotten Naruto to notice you yet?" I asked excitedly.

Hinata looked shocked, and she blushed like crazy, but somehow, she was able to keep from stuttering. "Umm… no. I haven't." she said. "Well, actually, I have, but Neji kind of… scared him off." She shot a quick glare Neji's way.

He laughed. "If he can't hold his ground against your family then he's not good enough for you."

I snorted. "Hypocrite." I accused playfully. "You can't stand your ground against my dad, yet I still think you're more than enough. Why can't Naruto be good enough for Hinata? There's nothing _terribly_ wrong with him."

Neji blushed even more, and even though Hinata was silent, her eyes displayed a distinct amount of amusement with my comment.

"Yes, well…"

I laughed. "It's okay, love." I kissed him swiftly on the cheek.

Then, without warning, I heard Hiashi throw something in the other room, and some muttering 'What ever he's got stuck up his ass must be sideways.' that followed.

"Oh, dear." Hinata said. "I take it this means you're not staying…" she said sadly.

Hiashi came in the room, still carrying that Hyuuga pride and grace, but looking rather pissed off. "Okay, you're able to stay… but you're dad isn't happy about it. At all." I heard Neji utter the word 'gay' under his breath. "But I hope you enjoy your stay never the less, miss Yamanaka. Dinner will be served in thirty."

I nodded. "Arigatou." After Hiashi left, I looked up at Neji. "Hey, love, how many people are there going to be at dinner…?" I asked.

He laughed heartily. "A lot. We don't have a big house so we can get lost in it."

I gulped.

(()) (()) (())

What Neji had said was an under statement. I counted at _least _thirty-five people at dinner. And almost every single one of them came up to introduce themselves to me. Almost every one of them looked and acted exactly the same as the last. They were all very neat and acted very formally.

As Neji and I took our seats, I noticed how delicate everything at the table looked. The plates, the silverware, the napkins. They all were so expensive looking. And the food that sat atop the plates were most defiantly expensive, but extremely delicious. By the end of dinner, I swore I would never again be satisfied with my mother's cooking.

After the meal, everyone, save for Neji and I, retired to their rooms. He took me back into the front room at sat me back down on the couch, where we sat for a rough half-hour. Then 8:30 came around (It was a really long meal!) and it was time for me to leave. So we climbed into Neji's car silently and drove off to the one place in the world that should comfort me, but doesn't. Home.


	10. I Won't Take Her Dreams Away

**I'm so happy!! I put a new fic up yesterday and it already has 193 hits and 2 favs!! And this story has over 200 hits for just the first chappy, so yeah... I'm happy. Plus I really like this chapter. I mean, it's prolly not my best, but it was deffinatly way up there! So I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

**Disclaimer: Doesn't the Naruto manga hav japanese in it? I don't know how to write in japanese, so I obviously didn't make the manga which means I'm not the owner of Naruto... T.T**

**Dedication: So many people to thanks. Lets go with Blonde.MindBlower, Ino-Gaara, Deathrosekitty, Alicia Kawa Uchiha, and (insert drumroll here!!) RamenIshLove. You guys are all awesome! Thanks fer all the encouragement! And plenty of thanks for my readers. You all are the very reason I'm here, and the very reason for this story. :D**

**Now, on to the story!!**

_Neji_

Chapter Ten: I Won't Take Her Dreams Away

As I drove Ino home I noticed her eyes close several times within the first ten minutes of the drive. Another five minutes later her body went limp as her eyes slowly close for the final time that night, sending her into her own little world. All her feistiness, all her pride, all her emotions were swept away as she sat there and slept, leaving a beautiful and innocent face in their wake.

I sighed as I continued to drive. This meant I'd have to either, a.) wake her or b.) carry her to the door and ask for her father's permission to lay her down on her bed. As I thought about it, I ruled out a completely. As much as I would hate to face her father, I'd hate even more to yank her out of her dream world.

Pulling around the corner of her street and parking in front of her house, I took the key out of the ignition and stepped out of the car, walking over to her side. I quietly opened her door and reached over to unbuckle her seatbelt. Once that was out of the way, I silently lifted her up off of the seat and into my arms bridal style. Shutting the car door with my foot, I walked up to her house with the beautiful blonde nested in my arms.

Before I could ever touch the doorbell, Inoichi had the door open. His furious glare was absent as he looked at his sleeping daughter. Not looking up at me, he told me, "Her room is up the hall. Second door on the right." I nodded with a quiet thank you before slipping out of my shoes and taking Ino to her room.

Ino's room was unbelievably neat, with whitewashed walls. The carpet was a warm peach color. Her bed sat in the far corner with a lavender comforter neatly draped over it and soft white pillows of all shapes and sizes sat at the head of the bed. Her desk was across from her bed, but was rather simple: a smooth wooden frame painted white with a handful of lavender flowers circling her name on the side. A small white chair sat in front of the desk. Facing her bed was a huge plasma screen TV and a rather large stereo system. In between the two was a good-sized CD and DVD shelf, full with action and horror movies and heavy rock and metal. On her walls were pictures of friends and hand drawn portraits of people from school. I noticed an extremely detailed and realistic picture of me sitting on the desk with a few stray pencils around it. _She's one hell of an artist._ I thought.

Walking over to her bed and folding over the near corner of the comforter, I slid Ino under the covers and straightened them out after sliding off her shoes. A strand of golden blonde hair fell in front of her face as I laid her down. I slowly moved that little piece of silken hair away from her face, allowing my fingers to run over her skin slowly and rest on her cheek. I leaned over and let my lips brush over hers, the lightly kiss her neck before whispering into her ear, "I love you, Ino. Sweet dreams."

I picked up her shoes and walked over to the door, turning out the lights and closing the door behind me. Inoichi appeared into the hallway from the upstairs living-room and slowly made his way over to me. "I guess there's no discouraging you, is there Neji?" he said, looking at me with disbelief and sorrow in his eyes.

I shook my head. "I just want what's best for her. As long as she wants me, I'm here."

He nodded, understanding. "Well, there's nothing left for me to argue. You know that she dreams of you every night, right? Every night, my wife and I hear her whisper your name in her sleep. You're in her dreams. You _are_ her dreams. And I won't take her dreams away."

I smiled sincerely. "Thank you, Inoichi-san. You won't regret it, I promise you."

His eyes then displayed amusement. "You had better not." He joked. "I'll carve your heart out with a dull spoon if you do."

My smile transformed into a wide grin. "Consider me warned, sir." I joked back.

"You know," he said. "You're not half bad, Neji."

"Arigatou." I said. "I'll be here to pick Ino up for school tomorrow morning. Sayonara, Inoichi-san."

Heading for the door, I slipped back into my shoes and sat Ino's down on the tile platform before opening the door and slid silently out of the house. I heard Inoichi call after me. "Be on time, will you?" he said playfully.

"Hai."

Sliding into my car, I shoved the keys into the ignition and turned on the car. Pulling away from the curb and into the street, I started heading home. _**See, Neji? That wasn't so bad.**__ Yeah, I guess it wasn't. _I thought, replying to the voice of Ino in my head. Lost in thoughts, I overlooked the fact that someone else's thoughts had been in my head as I drove down the highway.


	11. Don't Touch Me!

**Okays... got chappy 11 up. Arigatou to Ino-Gaara for helping me plan this out! You rox!**

**Disclaimer: Sai is an arrogant bitch. I don't like arrogant bitches. Therefore he wouldn't be in the series if I owned it. So HA. :D**

* * *

_Ino_

Chapter Eleven: Don't Touch Me!

On the ride home with Neji, I fought constantly with myself, desperately trying to keep my eyes open. But after fifteen minutes of a losing battle, I finally gave into my dreams. But, that night, things weren't as… peaceful as my normal dream. I could constantly feel my world shake or sometimes a loud bang, sounding like a car door. _That can't be it_. My dreaming mind thought. _I'm not in a car… I'm in a nice, peaceful, supposed-to-be-quiet valley. __**Well, what could explain that noise? **__Maybe it's thundering in some different part of your dream. __**Yeah…. Right.**_

But what could possibly explain what I felt next? If it wasn't someone's arms around me, lifting me up and carrying me away, what could it possibly be? And I was being carried away _bridal_ style. There were only two people in the entire universe who would do that. _Ano… who are they again??_ I searched through my head, my drowsy, drowsy head, looking for the names. _**I don't know… I remember… a brunette… angel…and a blonde demon…**__What were the names…? __**Inoichi… and… and… **_Then, suddenly, my world went from a dark midnight to a warm, pale red under my lids. That's when I heard him. My perfect angel. _**And…Neji!**_ I sighed, whether or not they heard me, I was in Neji's strong arms, and therefore, I was happy…

(()) (()) (())

Morning came swiftly, as if the midnight black had only stuck around for a few minutes. My eyes fluttered open as I was shaken out of my Neji-filled dream. _Morning already…?_ I thought sadly, reminiscing in the little I remembered from the night before. It had all been so… joyous. So perfect. I could still feel Neji wrapped around my body, so I wrapped my arms around my knees, pulling them closer to me, trying to keep the warm fluttery feeling in.

But then the chilled morning air got to me through the blankets. _Wait,_ I thought. _Blankets? I thought I was…_ Looking around, I saw the familiar white-washed walls and cheery peach carpeting that was my room. Which meant, since I was in my house, and my father hates Neji, that Neji probably didn't even come inside last night. I pouted. My father was acting ridiculously.

Crawling out of bed, I slid into the sailor style shirt and skirt, draping the jacket over my arm along with the tie. I noticed I had been slipped out of my shoes the previous night and went to see if my shoes were in the indentation in front of the door. And, sure enough, there they sat, right where they should've been.

Now sure I wouldn't have to run around looking for my shoes, I walked into the kitchen, which smelled of my mom's bacon, egg, and toast breakfast, sided by milk and an apple. My parents were sitting at the table, not quite talking but not quite whispering. "Ohayo." I call out to them, making them jump.

"Ohayo, Ino." They replied. "We thought you would still be in bed…"

"Yeah, well, I'm not." I say with a mix of morning cheerfulness and suspicious frustration. "What were you just talking about?"

My dad shook his head. "Ano… nothing, really. Just small talk. You know, weather, news, stuff like that."

I nod sarcastically. "Oh, yeah, that sounds _so_ interesting!" I say with sarcasm almost dripping from my voice. "Could I ask a question, father?"

He nods unsurely.

"Who is it that put me in my bed last night…?"

Suddenly, my stern father broke out into laughter. "Whether you believe it or not, Neji did."

I felt my mouth hit the floor. "What? Seriously?"

Another nod.

"Since when would you willingly let Neji into the house…?" I ask quietly but demandingly.

"Lets see here… last night at around nine o'clock."

"Awesome! Does that mean he's allowed over after school?"

My father purses his lips. "Fine… I suppose…"

I run up to my father and kiss his cheek. "Thanks, dad!" My father blushed, but I very merely grabbed an apple and a piece of toast, and leaned up against the counter. I think I saw my mother smile at my delighted munching on the toasted and buttered bread, and then the crisp, juicy apple. I felt a little bit of it trickle down my chin and quickly wiped it away.

Then I heard the quiet knock on the door. My eyes lighted up as I ran into the living room, shoving my arms into my jacket and hoisting my backpack onto my back. Then, happily swinging the door open, I wrapped my arms around my angel's neck and kissed him sweetly, his arms snaking around my waist. I pull away, laughing quietly as he plants a kiss on my nose.

"You ready?" the angelic voice asks me.

I nod, opening my eyes to look into his playfully calm lavender eyes. I smile was spread wide across his face as he looked into my eyes.

"Sayonara, Kaa-san!" I call out, walking out the door with Neji wrapped around my arm.

The drive to school was short. We spend the entire time talking feverently. Before we knew it, we were in class. We were so in our own little world that we didn't notice the four new students standing up front until Iruka called attention to them.

"Ano… attention class!" the brunette says. "We have four new students joining us today." I perked my head up from Neji's shoulder. _Four??_ I thought. "Each one is going to need a buddy for the week, so Tsunade-sama assigned four of you to show them around. First off, Naruto, you will be escorting Gaara. Shikamaru, Temari. Sakura, Kankurou, and Ino will be escorting Sai."

I groaned quietly, just loud enough for Neji to hear. He kissed my forehead. "It's okay, love." He whispers in my ear.

The new students all took random open seats and started talking to the people around him, all except for one of the boys with jet-black hair and pale skin. All during class, his eyes were on me, and Neji glared protectively at him, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing me. At the end of class, Naruto, Shikamaru, Sakura and I walked up to the front of the room to meet our 'buddies'. Three guesses who was mine.

The raven-haired boy walked up to me and held out his hand. "I'm Sai."

I take it hesitantly. "Yamanaka Ino."

"Thanks for doing this." He says casually as Neji walked up behind me, placing a hand on my waist and a hand on my shoulder before kissing my cheek. Sai gave him a quick glare, but looked away before Neji could see. I covered the hand on my shoulder with my own.

Returning my gaze to Sai, I say, "No problem."

For the rest of the day, I showed Sai around the school building. I explained to him things like classroom rules, lunch, things like that. Eventually there was nothing else to explain, and I told him if he ever needed help to just ask me.

(()) (()) (())

After heading to my locker, I stood outside and waited for Neji. Soon I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and was about to wrap myself around the figure behind me when I saw it was _not _the pale figure I thought it was. Sai was the one who stood behind me. I blushed and took a step back. "Sorry… I thought you were…"

He looked emotionless. "Neji." He finished, shaking his head. "Could I ever be your Neji?"

I took another step back as he took a step forward. "Sai, I just met you. And I love Neji. I'm not just going to leave him." Soon Sai was looming over me, looking down at me. He gripped my upper arms and pulled me into a forceful kiss. I struggled to get free, but he kept me still. Behind me I heard a backpack drop and knuckles crack. Students had begun to pour out of the building and all eyes were on me.

I tried to calm myself enough to think. To move. Taking in a deep breath through my nose, I sharply lifted my knee up and sent Sai tumbling to the ground in pain.

"Teme." I said coldly. Hoisting my backpack onto my shoulders, I walked off to Neji who had started towards us with the intent to kill. I pushed him towards the building, grabbing his backpack and putting it in his hands on the way. "I've got to talk to Tsunade-sama."


	12. Too Much Stress

**Okay... so here's chapter 12. Sorry it took longer than the others, I've been running low on inspiration lately, so... yeah. But, RnR, please! Reveiws definatly help! :D**

**And, without further ado, Chapter Twelve of Could It Be Jealousy**

**Disclaimer: Do you _see_ little blonde Hyuuga's running around and messing with the other little kid's minds? I don't think so! XNejiInoX**

_

* * *

__Ino_

Chapter Twelve: Too Much Stress

I dragged Neji behind me as I practically ran to the principal's office. Barging into the room without knocking, I shouted, "Tsunade-sama!!"

The blonde sitting at her desk jumped noticeably. "Ah! What?"

I stormed up to her desk and Neji took a seat, still cracking his knuckles. "Sai-teme made a move on me." I complain angrily.

Tsunade looked shocked. "Really now? I thought he was gay…" she says, trailing off and looking out into the distance.

I slam my fists down on her desk. "Tsunade-obaa!" Her eyes snap back to me. "I'm not going to have that teme follow me around."

The blonde before me studied me carefully, noting the distinct fiery rage burning within my blue eyes. I gritted my teeth. "No."

My eyes widen with shock and I lean back, as if I was just slapped. "What? Didn't you hear me? He freaking kissed me! I'm not going to hang around a guy who hits on another man's girl, especially not if it's me!"

"Ino, you're just going to have to deal with it. You're an adult, so handle it like one."

I looked into Tsunade's brown eyes and saw she was serious. "But… Tsunade-obaa… he's a –"

"I heard what you said! You're just going to have to deal with it."

I nod in defeat. "Hai, Tsunade-sama." With a slight bow, I turn and walk to the door.

"Ino? Just to make sure you know, if he does it again… go ahead and tell me."

I nod without facing her and continue to walk away. Neji trails behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder and closing the door behind us. Once the door separated us from Tsunade, he pulled me into a hug.

I nod, holding onto him for dear life. I feel him plant a kiss on my forehead. "C'mon. We should get going." I nod again, not wanting to speak. I hold onto his side while he drapes his arm around my shoulders. My face subconsciously buries itself in his chest. It was the simplest way to say I couldn't face the world.

(()) (()) (())

Neji and I sat on my bed, reclining against the headboard. I sat curled up in his lap, legs tucked under me, head resting on his chest, arms wrapped around his waist. He held me close, a hand on my head, and hand on my back, pulling me as close as comfort would allow. Three o'clock came around and it was time for Neji to start heading home.

I clutched him, not wanting him to leave. "Neji… don't go." I cry out.

I feel his protecting arms wrap around me once more. "Shh, shh… its okay. I'll be back tomorrow." He says, swaying me back and forth. I shut down as his soft lips touched my own. He pulls away, planting a kiss on my forehead. I trace my finger along the edge of his jaw, then trail it down to his collarbone. He sighs.

"I really have to go, I have kitchen duty today."

I nod. "Okay… I'll see you later, then, love. Maybe I'll call up the girls."

His eyes light up and my favorite grin spreads across his face. "That's a good idea, love. You haven't spent time with any of you're friends lately." He squeezes me and kisses my forehead one more time before we walk out to the entry room.

"Goodnight, Ino-chan." He says.

"Night, Neji-kun. I love you."

The grin brightens. "I love you, too." With one last glance, he turns and walks to the street, climbing into his car. I hold onto the doorframe as I watch him drive away, my ocean eyes always fixed on his taillights until I can no longer see them.

I sighed, turning and closing the door. Walk slowly to my room, feeling the hole in my chest burn. _Pathetic. Missing him already._ I chastise myself. _**But… but… my Neji is gone…**__He's coming back tomorrow…__**But he's GONE!! **_I shake my head, trying to sort through my many emotions. _Alright… we're fine… just… go call the girls…_ I decide after a while.

I walk into my room, closing the door behind me. Sitting down at my desk, I reach for my phone. _Who first…? Sakura?_ Then with a quick nod to myself, I start punching in the numbers. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. "Gah." I say after the call ends. "Geez… Sakura…"

I punch numbers back into the phone. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.

Again. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.

I heard someone finally pick up the phone. "Hello?" The familiar feminine voice of my pink-haired friend says.

"Sakura? It's Ino… I was wondering if you would like to come over for the night… I need some girl time."

The other side of the line is silent for a while. "Umm… yeah, I think I could do that. What time do you need me over?"

"As soon as you can be." I say anxiously.

"Okay… well… be there in… thirty?" she asks.

"Yeah. See you then." I say. Sakura hangs up. I sigh. "Well… I guess Hinata next… she might already know." I again punch in numbers. The phone is answered immediately.

"Hyuuga residence, Hinata speaking."

"Hey, Hina. Has Neji told you about anything yet?"

"Yeah, he just got home a few minutes ago. You want me to spend the night?"

"Well… yeah, mostly."

"Who else is coming?"

"Well…" I say. "You and Sakura are the only ones I've called so far. So…"

"Okay, then I'll see you soon."

"Gotcha."

"Ja ne." she says.

"Ja ne." The line goes dead. I sigh again, punching in the number to Tenten's cell.

(()) (()) (())

After fifteen minutes of searching, I had found the number to the new girl's house. All the girls said they could come, so I was happy as I could be without Neji being there. Everyone had arrived by four o'clock. Sakura, naturally, was the first. It was a good ten minutes before anyone else arrived, so she and I sat on the couch and talked. Apparently, the reason I hadn't had any crap from Uchiha lately was because the rosette had snagged him. "You really got Sasuke to ask you on a date?!" I asked excitedly.

She nodded with just as much enthusiasm. "Yeah. I think we're heading towards going steady."

The conversation continued, the other girls arrived, and pretty soon we were packed into Sakura's car, heading to a local restaurant. The car was filled with the upbeat rock songs and enthusiastic conversations. Everyone seemed to need this get together as much, or in Temari's case, more than I did. Somehow, as shy as Temari was that morning, she sounded very comfortable with us all. She looked like she felt like she belonged. She took part in all of our chats, from boys to homework to work to family, all the way back to boys.

Somehow, Sakura and I were the only one's who were dating now. Rock Lee was apparently absorbed in his martial arts and Tenten told him she needed someone who would spend time with her. But Kiba had an eye on her, so none of us thought she'd be single for long. And Naruto, as always, was still rather oblivious of Hinata's fancy for him. After Neji scared him off – from a chance to hang out, we all found out with a shock – Naruto went back to pretty much ignoring her.

The one thing I noticed was Temari never told us who she liked. No one else did, but I saw right through her. When Sakura was telling us about her date with Sasuke-teme, I saw the flicker of jealousy flash through her eyes. I never got a chance to ask her about it, though, because we pulled up to the restaurant just then, and the music was turned off along with the engine, giving me no cover to ask.

We all walked into the little building, the sound of a bell ringing as the door opened. The place was well lit, made good use of reds and oranges, and over all a very beautiful place to eat. After being seated, we all continued our conversation, looking through the menu. Temari, Hinata and Tenten ordered ramen (much to my surprise) and Sakura and I ordered miso soup and dumplings. The waitress, who I thought was named Ikio, took away our menus and orders, heading for the kitchen.

"So," Hinata said, turning to face me. "Why'd you call us together?"

I blushed. I really didn't know what to tell them. That I couldn't stand not being with Neji? Not a chance in hell. "Well… I just needed a girls night out, and I thought Temari could use a chance to make some friends."

Temari's face lit up. "Arigatou, Ino-san. It really is appreciated."


	13. You Want Me To Do WHAT?

**Yays!! Chapter Thirteen is up and running! Woot. I acctually got this done in record timing... roughly two hours. So yay! Yay me! Yay you! Just YAY! ... -- yeah, I'm done now. This one would _probably_ go out to Alicia Kawa Uchiha, because she is the one who suggested I 'reveal Sai's intentions'. So here you go! :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the lovely characters of the Naru-verse. I can only use them to write my fanfictions.**

* * *

Sai

Chapter Thirteen: You Want Me To Do _What_?

Unlike most schools, my first day at Konoha High was… to say the least, interesting. Confusing. Exciting. So much had happened that I couldn't keep track of it all.

First off, I wasn't the only newcomer for once. A family of three was also moving in, a girl and two boys. The girl had wild blonde hair and was talking – well, nagging – loudly when they entered the principal's office. The oldest boy had brown hair that stuck up in odd places – probably hat-hair. And the last boy had fiery hair, sea-green eyes, and a weird bruise on his forehead… the kanji for 'love'.

_Four newcomers, eh? Won't mother be excited…_ I thought, bored out of my mind. I could tell living here would be weird.

The blonde principal, whose name I think was Tsunade, looked at them with shock. "More? Ah great… now I gotta make three new schedules… and just… ah damn it all." I heard her mumble. I chuckled lightly. With a new, louder voice, Tsunade said, "Okay, come in and take a seat. I'll send you off to class with him once I figure out your schedules…" They all nodded and sat down on the couch at the back of the room.

Four new schedules, a brief introduction, and a maze of confusing hallways later, the three other students and I were standing at the front of a classroom, talking to the teacher. His name was Iruka, his head was covered in a mass of brown locks, his skin was tanned and his face bore a scar across the bridge of his nose. I later heard that he got that from serving in a war, but he didn't seem like the type to go into the battle so I dismissed it as a hapless rumor.

Iruka cleared his throat. "Attention, class. We have _four_ new students that are going to be joining us. Since there are so many, Tsunade-sama has decided that each of them is going to have a 'buddy' who'll show them around campus and teach them the rules. Any questions?" The class as a whole managed to get a quiet mutter of 'no' out, save for a blonde boy, who had shouted out like a retard. He had vast ocean-blue eyes and three whisker-like scars on each cheek.

"Very well then. Tsunade has already assigned buddies, so no complaining, alright? Naruto, you will be escorting Gaara, here." He said, placing a hand on Gaara's shoulder and receiving a glare from sea-foam green eyes. "Shikamaru, you'll be escorting Temari," He waves his hand at the blonde. "Sakura. Kankurou." Waving his hand again, this time at the brunette. "And Ino, you will be escorting Sai." He makes a slight gesture towards me.

I heard sighs of relief and groans of discomfort. A pink haired girl buried her face in her arms, the blonde who shouted out was grinning from ear to ear, a black-haired boy was falling asleep with a look of disgust on his face, and a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl turned to the boy next to her and buried her face in his shoulder. He leaned down and presses his lips against her forehead and whispers something in her ear. His eyes then directed towards me, a look of protectiveness in the pools of white, telling me, 'make a move on her and you die'. I felt like shrinking back, but my face remained as emotionless as ever.

"You four can take the open seats, we have plenty of them." Iruka says, breaking through the silence. I nodded and headed for a seat a few seats over from the couple. All during class, my eyes remained either on the blue-eyed girl or locked in the glare of her boyfriend, who never let go of her waist and would occasionally stoop down and kiss her, as if marking his territory. He was making it _very_ clear that she was his.

At the end of class, the lazy black-haired boy had been woken up and the four designated 'buddies' met the four of us new kids up at the front of the class. The blonde girl gave her brunette boyfriend a kiss and walked down here, apparently telling him to head to his next class. Of course, he didn't listen. He came up behind her, placing a hand on her waist and a hand on her shoulder as we introduced ourselves to each other. He lightly kisses her cheek.

I hold out my hand, waiting for her to shake it. After covering the hand on her shoulder with her own, she takes mine and briefly shakes it. "Thank you for doing this." I say, sounding as thankful as an emotionless person like me can be.

She nods, blonde hair cascading around her face. "No problem. So she and I – along with her over-protective boyfriend whose name is Neji – leave class and head for my next class, science. "Asuma-sensei is a nice guy, so you shouldn't have and trouble with him. If you have and questions, just ask the person next to you, okay? I'll meet you here after class." I nod, giving her a brief thank you before walking into class.

After Ino and her bodyguard leave, I walk up to the teacher, Asuma-sensei, as she told me, and hand him a piece of paper for him to sign. "Hi. I'm new." I say bluntly.

He looks up at me with shock. "Well how about that? Multiple new students. Two in one day! You're going to like science, trust me. Why don't you sit next to…" he looks around the room. "Ah, Sasuke. Why don't you sit with him?" he points to a raven-haired boy with obsidian eyes and a scary glare. I shrug and head over to my new seat. "Hi." I say.

He looks at me for a second before answering, "Hey." Before looking away.

"Would you happen to know Ino or her boyfriend? Because I don't think he likes me too much, and I can't figure out why."

He looks back at me. "Hyuuga doesn't like you, eh?" He chuckles. "Yeah, I know them. Lovesick couple if I ever saw one. I would so just love to get underneath Hyuuga's skin… that would defiantly make my day. How about you? Wouldn't you just love to irk the boy just cause you could?"

I shrug. "Sure."

An evil smile spreads across his face. "I bet I know how you could do that." I cock my head with a quizzical expression on my face. "The best way to get the Hyuuga mad would be to kiss his woman."

(()) (()) (())

Sure enough, Ino – with the Hyuuga, of course – met me outside of my class after the period. Soon she had gone over pretty much all the rules a school could ever have and then some, and we ended up going our separate ways, much to Hyuuga's delight. In all my classes with Sasuke and without the two, we talked about ways to get Ino's boyfriend pissed. I, of course, had little input, so the conversation was mostly fueled by Sasuke's hate. In the end, we decided it would just be best for me to kiss her in front of him and hope he doesn't kill me. All his other plans were too far-fetched.

So, two-thirty-five came along and everyone headed for their lockers. I knew that Ino meets Hyuuga outside in the courtyard, so I decided to go there. Sure enough, the she was, sitting on a bench all by herself. I walked up to her quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder like I've seen Neji do several times. She lightly squealed and turned to face me with a bright smile, only for her to frown when her ocean-blue eyes saw who was behind her.

"Oh, sorry… I thought you were…" She started.

"Neji?" I cut her off. Shaking my head, I frown. "Could I ever be your Neji?" I ask.

She looks at me like I have a huge zit on my face. "I… Sai, I don't know you. I'm not just going to leave him like that." She crosses her arms.

I sigh lightly before grabbing her shoulders and pulling her towards me, crashing my lips down on hers. I hear her shriek in surprise, trying to pull away, but I hold her still. But, before I knew it, she lifted her knee sharply and I was sent tumbling to the ground, groaning in pain.

"Teme." She spat, turning sharply and walking away, dragging behind her a furious Hyuuga with a killing intention, blood-thirsty eyes latched onto me. She picks up his backpack on the way and shoves it into his hands before dragging him back into the building and heading off to only God knows where.

"Gah… I don't know if that was worth it or not."


	14. Girl's Night Out

**Omigosh. I live. Finally. xD**

**Five reveiws at last. Now. I hope you guys won't hate me forever and ever and ever for the particular crappyness of this chapter, but, after going back and reading my reviews from **Alicia Kawa Uchiha**, I realized that I hit a major speed bump in the story before I even posted it: immediate fluff. So, I am sorry to say, but there will only be just a few more chapters of Could It Be Jealousy (No, I am not taking off any chapters, that was how it was going to be a long time ago.) BUT. I have started to form ideas for a NEW NejiIno to make up for it. I might be putting the basic plot up on my profile, but I'm a busy person, so don't go and check right now because you won't find it.**

**But same rule applies: I need reveiws before I post the next chapter.**

**Once again, Gomen for the suckiness of this chapter. I don't think it's possible for the next one to not be better. (But then again, I've got things planned for the future.)**

**Disclaimer: _Fan_fiction, remember. _Not male,_ remember? _Not rich,_ remember? Yeah. I think I don't own Naruto. Cause if I did, I think there'd be, like, a serious NejiSasu scene. (Not really. xD My men aren't gay.)**

**Anyhoo. Onto the crappy, cracktastic, suckish story. (That is not to discourage you from reading. Please, please, please, please, PLEASE. Read. And reveiw.)**

_Ino _

Chapter Fourteen: Girl's Night Out

Dinner went by swiftly. It was filled with bad jokes and obnoxious laughter, faces full of food, camera snapshots, and basically just fun over all. By the time we left, many people in the restaurant were getting pretty… irked. But I think they were just jealous because they can't have a good time like we did. Losers.

Packing into the car, still laughing about the most previous corny joke, we decided that, since we're all broke, we should just head home and watch a movie. But, in reality, we all knew we wouldn't be watching the screen. Girl's night outs aren't for watching some mindless old film. It's for gossiping, sharing secrets.

Sakura, by far, has the biggest house, so we drove over there, already starting to spout out random thoughts and secrets. I could tell by the way this night was going it was going to turn into a sleepover at Sakura's big-ass mansion. She had _more_ than enough rooms to give us all our own and have five-plus rooms in between each one of us, after all. That girl was _rich_.

Pouring into the house and into the home theatre of Sakura's, the rosette started asking us what movie we wanted to 'watch'. We all called out different movies from different genres, which was no surprise. Hinata, of course, said a random mushy romance, Tenten wanted action, Temari wanted mystery, and I called out for horror. Sakura laughed. "Indecisive as ever, I see." She looked at her shelf of DVD's (it was freaking taller than I was!!) she pulled out a movie at random. Naturally, it was my worst enemy: _How To Lose a Guy In Ten Days._ Could life _possibly_ get any better? Note the sarcasm.

Hinata squealed, the others of us groaning. "Now, now, girls," Sakura says. "You remember the rules. What ever comes off the shelf is watched." She smiles.

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, whatever, can we just watch it and get it over with?" Which actually meant 'can you just put it in so we can start talking?' She laughed again and nodded, turning to the DVD player. Popping the sucker in and closing the compartment, she flipped the switch and the lights all go out. Then the curtains draw from over the humongous screen and light shoots out across the room.

Tenten claps her hands together. "So, who wants to share first?" her smile glows brightly in the semi-dark room.

I shrug, raising my hand. "I miss Neji," I say bluntly. They looked at me for a split second, looked at each other and then just _fell over_ laughing. I chuckled a little bit too. It was pretty funny.

"Ino…" Sakura said between chuckles. "You are… so… freaking… head-over…-heels… for him." Her eyes were closed and she was clutching her sides for dear life. Hinata was smiling and laughing lightly, and Tenten and Temari were literally rolling on the floor.

"Whew…" Tenten sighs, wiping her eyes. "I remember when I was crazy for him… but I wasn't that bad. Sheesh, Ino."

I smile. "But he wasn't crazy for you back. It made my 'obsession' worse."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"So, Sakura, got any nasty secrets you've been bottling up?" I ask.

The rosette blushes. "Well… um… Shikamaru tried kissing me…" The other girls' mouths all drop open.

"WHAT??" we all shout in an outburst of disbelief. Sakura nods her head sadly. "Shikamaru likes her…? Woah," Tenten whispers, dumbfounded. She rubs her head confusedly. "Um… okay… next," she says.

"Well…" Hinata starts shyly. "Naruto tried to hang out with me, but…"

"Neji told him off," I cut in. "You haven't told them yet? That was like… a week ago," I tease.

She sticks out her tongue. "I wasn't finished." I shrug. "But after Neji told him off, he came by my place at night and… well… we sat under the stars all night."

"Oh. I thought you would've, like, kissed or something. I would've," Sakura says, teasing her like I did.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Give the poor girl a break," Temari says.

"So, Temari, who do you like?" Tenten asks out of the blue.

The other blonde stiffens. "What…?

"Who do you like?" the brunette repeats.

Temari looks at me anxiously, her eyes saying, 'Save me!!' I shake my head softly, almost unnoticeably and mouth the word 'no'. She sighs lightly before clearing her throat. "Well… um… I kind of liked Shikamaru… but, after what Sakura said, I don't know…" I giggle. _I see, she's just flat out jealous of Sakura. I wonder why…? Hmm. Oh well. It doesn't really matter anyway._

"Next subject," Hinata interjects. I saw Temari sigh as Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten launched into some talk about Kiba. I smiled at the thought of him; my x-boyfriend animal lover Kiba. Oh, how the days have passed since he broke up with me. I swear, he cares more about his precious dogs than any girl.

"Hey, wait a second…" Temari starts. "Tenten… aren't you dating Kiba?"

The brunette almost chokes on her spit. "What…?" Her eyes look around frantically. "Of course not!"

Temari looked at me and we both smiled. "You are, aren't you! You little ho! Trying to keep us from knowing that! I'm hurt!" I tease.

Tenten frowns. "Fine. Yeah, he asked me out on Thursday. So what?"

I look at Hinata and Sakura with Temari's smile on my face. We all giggle. "Tenten's got a _boyfriend_!" we chant.

The brunette rolls her eyes. "WHATEVER. New subject."

We smile but nod. The room falls quiet.

"Sooooooo," I start. The others look at me. "Seriously girls, it's been a month longer than we usually wait for a girls' night out, and we've barely said anything! That means you either have been stuck inside doing homework all day everyday or you've been doing naughty things you don't want to talk about. Fess up."

The girls continue to look at me. Sakura clears her throat. "I, uh, heard that Sai tried to –"

"Don't. Say. His. Name," I growl. "He's an asshole and the reason I asked for this whole thing. New topic. Now."

The room falls quiet again. "U-uh, did a-any of y-you hear about t-the new d-dance t-that is c-coming up?" Hinata asks quietly.

Our eyes light up. "There's going to be a dance? Really?"

Hinata nods her head. "Yeah, prom is just around the corner. Last dance of high-school."

I squealed. "Omigosh! Prom? Really? Schweet!!" _Neji and I … going to prom … dancing … this is sooooooo awesome!!_

"Who do you guys think are going to ask you?" Tenten asks. "Besides you, Ino. We all know who you're going with."

The girls giggle. "Uhh, I'll probably be going with Sasuke… but that's if he even goes."

"Naruto-kun," Hinata says, quiet as ever.

"Uhm… I haven't really been here like… at all. One day. I probably will end up going by myself," Temari says with a sad frown.

"Oh, right." _Crud… well, she said she liked Shikamaru… I'll have to see what I can do for her. _"That's okay, Temari. I'll get you someone."

Sakura pats her shoulder. "Yeah, Ino's dated pretty much every guy that's worth dating – which isn't much, just to let you know. She's got herself up pretty far up on the food-chain. She'll get you a guy." She winks at me, and I could tell she was asking me 'Shikamaru?' I nodded back.

"Oh, okay! Great! Thanks, Ino-san!" Temari says, wide grin spread across her face.

Another silence. _Grawr. Everyone is too quiet lately…_ I think. As if on cue, my cell phone goes off. I sigh, rolling my eyes. "I'll be right back…" I say, standing and pulling my phone out of my purse. The screen read 'Dad'. I growled, flipping it open. "Ello…?"

"Ino?"

"Who else, dad?"

"Right, umm…" he starts. "We need you at home for a minute. Could you tell Neji goodbye for the night?"

I huff. "I'm not _with_ Neji right now, dad. I'm with the girls."

"Oh." He goes quiet. "Tell the girls 'hi' for me, okay? But you need to come home; it's late."

I sigh. "Okay… see you later, then." I think I heard him mumble a reply, but it was quiet because I was snapping the phone shut. I pop my head back into the room. "Guys, my dad says 'hi' and that I've gotta go, so I'll see you all later, okay?"

The girls groan. "Alright, Ino-chan. See you," they mumble. I smile and walk out, grabbing my keys from my pocket and stumbling across the hardwood floor of Sakura's house. Stepping onto the platform with our shoes, I slip into my tennis-shoes, open the door, and slide out, closing it silently behind me. I search the darkness for my dad's car (I had to borrow it because of the rock incident) – a black Mercedes. It is _so_ easy to spot in the darkness. Note the sarcasm.

Walking (stumbling) to the car, I fumble around with the keys, stick it into the lock, and open the door, promptly hitting myself in the leg. I wince, side-step, and climb in, rubbing the sore spot. I shove the key into the ignition, shift it into reverse, and back out of the drive way, starting on my way home.

* * *

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**The button is right there. So press it. :D**

**Lex -- thinks you should review so that you get an update.**

**Readers -- will push that little button so Lex can update.**

**EDIT:: ONE more. Just ONE more. Please?**

**I've been sitting here, WAITING to upload.**

**But I'm not being a push-over. Five reviews.**

**One more.(:**


	15. Getting Ready

**Note at bottom(:**

**Disclaimer: If I don't have time to update this story, how the hell could I**_**possibly**_**have time to be the owner of the most bestest anime in the world? |:**

* * *

Ino

Chapter Fifteen: Getting Ready

The drive home was long and boring. Sure, it was only a thirty-minute drive at the too-low speed limit of forty-five miles per hour, but with the slow pace of thirty, the dimly lit streets, and the long line of cars stuck on the highway, one couldn't help but feel sleepy.

I pulled up to the curb in front of my house drowsily, my eyes only half-open, and jerked the keys out of the ignition. I could barely stumble up the steps upright, my knees buckling slightly as I tried to lift them to the next step; I swear my feet weighed fifty pounds each at that moment.

So for some reason, I can't explain why I felt wide awake walking in the doors to my house; the only think I could think of was the shining, glittery piece of soft blue fabric in my mother's hands.

"What _is_ that?" I squeal, rushing towards her happily.

She beamed. "It's your prom dress. Your father and I thought you wouldn't mind us taking the liberty of getting you one, and we noticed you looking at this last time we took you to the store."

I couldn't hold back the joy that was being displayed brightly on my features. "Mother, you know I absolutely love you, right?" I chirp, hugging her tightly. She laughed.

I turn to my father. "You, too, Dad." I wrap him in a hug, too. His face lit up and he hugged back.

"Anytime, Princess."

Pulling away from my father, I turn back to the glistening dress. It was a soft, pretty shade of sky blue, and white glitter adorned the hem and the waistline, as well as spotted the waves of the skirt. The straps were wide-spread spaghetti, at the sides of my shoulders, exposing a good part of my neck, leaving from for a necklace. "Mother, it's beautiful!" I hold it against me, seeing how it would fit.

"Well, come on, now. Go try it on," she says playfully, a smile hanging on her lips.

I nod enthusiastically and run to my room. A minute and a half later, I come out, the blue dress glittering almost as much as my joyous smile. The dress was even softer than I thought, and I loved the way the skirt flowed when I walked.

"You look beautiful, honey," my dad compliments, pride in his eyes.

"You really do," my mother adds happily. "Try spinning around."

I nod, then stick out a foot and spin around on it. The dress swished gracefully around my feet. "I love it!" I chirp again, happily clapping my hands together.

"I'm glad, because that cost more than our new couch," my dad teases.

I laugh happily, smiling at him. "Yeah, well… thanks." I hug him again, tighter this time. He lifts me up and spins me around in the air.

"Now, now, you don't want to rip the dress," my mother warns, pulling me away. "Go put the dress away. You want it to look nice, come prom."

I nod. _But it's kind of sad… only in a town _this _size would _parents _know when dances are._ Sighing, I dismiss the thought and walk back to my room, slipping into my night clothes. I poke my head out into the hall. "Night, dad. Night, mom," I yell to them.

"G'night, Princess!"

"'Night, honey!"

Satisfied, I pull my head back into my room, flip the switch to my light, and pad over to my bed, slipping under the covers. That night, I dreamed of Neji and I twirling around on a hardwood floor, and I didn't need to wonder why.

(()) (()) (())

I woke up the next morning with a smile on my face. The first thing I saw was sparkling blue, and last night washed into my head as I gazed at the dress. It really was beautiful. I couldn't wait to show it to Neji.

Hopping out of bed, I climb into my school uniform and tug a brush through my hair. Taking a swift look in the mirror, I walk into the hall, grabbing my backpack on the way out. "Ohaiyo," I say as I pad into the kitchen.

My mother looks up. "Ohaiyo," she replies joyfully. She smiles at me. "Your breakfast is ready," she reminds me, motioning to a plate full of food beside her.

I smile back at her. "Sorry, no can do. Neji'll be here any minute."

"Well, eat until he does get here."

I roll my eyes, but my smile remains. "Fine, whatever," I murmur, plopping down into the chair. "Itadakimatsu," I say, picking up my chopsticks.

I had only had just a handful of bites before the doorbell rang. "I'll get that!" I run to the door and swing it open, a bright smile on my face.

There he was: my Neji. _My_ Neji. I beamed and wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him joyfully.

He chuckled, hugging back. "Morning."

I grinned at him. "Morning," I replied.

"How was your little girls' night out?" he asked, curious.

I laughed. "It was fun. Lots of fun." I slid from his arms. "But that wasn't the highlight of my day… come check this out." I grabbed his hand and tugged him into the house, giving him only barely enough time to slip out of his shoes before bolting to my room. "'Mon, Neji!" I told him, sliding through the doorway.

He peered into the room quizzically. "Not gonna work, Neji. You have to come in."

He snickered and walked in, sliding his arm around my waist. "What is it, love?" he asked.

I pointed a finger daintily at the closet. His white eyes followed my gaze to the dress. His smile broadened. "Let me guess… that's your prom dress?"

I nodded excitedly. "Mhm-hmm!"

He chuckled, then kissed my cheek. "It's nice, Ino. You'll look beautiful," he whispered against my reddening skin. Sure, I knew he'd say it looked good, but still…

I giggled, then moved my face to kiss him.

He kissed back for a while, then pulled away with a smile. "Well, I also have something for you." He pulls out a small silver box.

I look at him curiously. "What is it?"

"Just open it."

I smile, taking it into my hands and opening the lid, to find a small silver, bird-shaped pendant hanging from a silver chain. "Thought you'd like something to represent me." He shrugs, but there's a smile on his face.

"I love it." I glance up at him, beaming, and hug him tightly.

"Alright, kiddos! You're gonna be late for school!" my dad called from the kitchen. Neji and I broke apart abruptly, surprised. He laughed lightly again, then took my hand.

We slid out the door with a quiet goodbye and hurried down to Neji's car, quickly driving away to school. We were, in fact, late to class, but I didn't mind; my head was filled with thoughts of prom, not more than a week and a half away.

* * *

**Omgggggg...! I am**_**soooooooo**_**sorry for how phuckking long this took to update! Practically forever and a day!):**

**So, to make it up to you, I hath given thou a Twin Update. xD**

**You know. When update two chapters instead of one? You finally get to see both Ino and Neji's point of view on the same topic at once, for once. Lmao.**

**So, please, enjoy.**

**- LexLogikk**


	16. Free Time

**Chapter Two of the Twin Update! Woohoo!**

**I wanted to give some Neji input in, but I didn't have a lot to talk about, so I didn't make it all that long. I'll be coming back and adding some details in the middle, so don't worry.(:**

**Disclaimer: All I can say in Japanese is, "Seikatsu no ongaku desu," "Randisan wa totemo kirei desu," and "Yume wo peinto watashi no sekai," so I'm clearly not Japanese or the owner or Naruto. :D**

* * *

Neji

Could It Be Jealousy?

Chapter Sixteen: Free Time

After saying goodbye to Ino one last time, I walked out her front door and climbed into my car, glancing back at her in my rearview mirror from time to time until I could no longer make out her features. I sighed, turning my full attention to the road ahead of me, driving home faster than normal. I didn't feel like giving myself time to think, and especially not in a car: I might turn back around to go back to my blonde.

I pulled up the driveway to my house, parking the car back into the closest free spot. I shut the door with a bit more force than necessary and made my way to the kitchen, telling Hinata about Ino wanting to spend time with the girls as I passed her. Sure enough, from my position in front of the stove, I heard the phone ring and Hinata answer it. She left a few minutes later.

After dinner, I basically went upstairs to do my homework and went to bed. I didn't mingle with the clan (not that I did that much, anyway, now that I spend most of my time with Ino,) or sit by the fire reading a good book. I finished my Geometry assignment and hit the hay.

My dreams confused me that night. I saw nothing of the light blonde hair I could recognize from a mile away, nor did I see brown hair and white eyes as I did otherwise. I viewed my dreams in black and white. Black hair, white skin, and black, emotionless eyes; two of them. But before I could make sense of them, I woke up.

It was an early time to wake up, even for me, who liked to wake at least an hour before anyone else in the house. I glanced at the clock: it was just barely 4:58 in the morning. I groaned, clenching my eyes shut and trying to drift back to sleep, but the sleep evaded me. I was not tired.

_I _did_ go to bed early yesterday. Maybe I should go for a walk; it'll be a while before I need to pick Ino up._ Groaning once again, I sat up, trying to get the kinks out of my neck as I walked to the closet, pulling out a simple shirt and a pair of jeans. After a quick shower, I slipped out of the house without making a sound, walking briskly away from the property.

I found myself in a park quite a distance a way after some time had passed. I had let myself just walk, my mind blank as I listened to my footsteps. "I should've thought to bring a watch," I muttered to myself darkly. I circled around a fountain and headed back to the mansion, knowing I was probably going to be late to pick up Ino if I didn't hurry.

I got back to the house at just past 6:30, so I hurriedly ate my breakfast and sped out the door, making it to her house a couple minutes after 7:00. Shutting my car door quietly, I walked up to her house and rung the bell. The door opened almost immediately as I was tackled by a pale body. I chuckled. "Morning," I greet her.

"Morning," she replies cheerfully.

"How was your little girls' night out?"

"It was fun… lots of fun, actually." She pulls away from me. "But it wasn't the highlight of my day. Come check this out!" Grabbing my hand, she pulls me inside, and I barely got my feet out of my shoes before she dragged me to her room. "'Mon, Neji!" I smiled at her parents as I passed, following down to her room and peering in cautiously.

"Not gonna work, Neji. You're gonna have to come in." She smirks at me.

Sighing and rolling my eyes, I padded over to her, sliding my arm around and gazing down at her. "What is it, love?" I followed her gaze to her closet and saw a blue dress hanging there. "And I assume that is your prom dress?" I ask after a while.

She nods her head excessively. "Mm-hmm!" She was overly excited by this piece of cloth, but I went along with it, laughing and kissing her cheek.

"It's nice, Ino. You're going to look beautiful in it," I tell her, pleased when she appropriately reddened. She turned and kissed me softly, her arms winding up to drape around my neck.

"Alright, kiddos!" her dad called from the kitchen. "You're gonna be late for school!" I pulled away from her, looking at the watch I grabbed off my desk at home around my wrist. _Heh. He's right. And to think I went over the speed limit to get here. _I smile at her, taking her hand and tugging it away. She took one last glance at the dress and followed me.

We got to school a few minutes after the bell, but I had no trouble getting the office lady to write us a passes to class. Handing her one, I lead her to class, thinking about her dress. _I'll never understand the female's ability to freak themselves out over a piece of shiny fabric. Though I have to admit she's going to look stunning; her bare shoulders are going to drive me crazy._

I laugh at myself for a moment before wrapping my arms around her and directing my attention to what the teacher was saying.

* * *

**Okay. So that's all I have. As said above, I'll be coming back later with an extended version of this chapter. So don't you worry. I'll have more.(:**

**Now that I'm on summer break, I should mention that I will probably be updating _wayyyyyyy_ more than I usually do. But, (I hate to say it,) I'm losing interest in this story. After receiving a negative review from a reader that went something like, "It would be nice if you kept them more in character. I'm sure we'd all love a real Neji, not just a Naruto that looks like Neji," I started to think, "Yeah, this sucks." Then I went back and read my first seven chapters and almost cried. Once again, I'd like to recommend my other NejiIno, It's All Empty. My writing style has been improved greatly in that story and will flow much more smoothly. Not to mention has some sort of an actualy _plotline_.**

**Although, none of that was to discourage you from reading _this_ story. It is by far my most popular (and longest) and I am very, very grateful to all of my readers, and all of those who review even more. Here's a shoutout to a few people!**

**_Reviewers _**(multiple-time-reviewer)

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-Your Average Sardonist-

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_**Favorites**_

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_**Alerts**_

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**Thank you again if you reviewed, favorited, or alerted for my story! I'll update as soon as possible. Pinkyypromise.(:**

**-LexLogikk**


	17. Prom Night

**I think I'm pretty much over the whole, "I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long, _excuse_, _excuse_, _excuse_ is what happened to me, I'll try to update sooner," speech, because after sixteen chapters, I'm sure that has gotten super old.**

**So, instead, here is the fourth-to-last chapter of Could It Be Jealousy.**

**My warning is there is a _lot_ of description about the clothing and what not, and Ino smiles like every other paragraph. Sorry, but I've seen what Prom does to females, and they smile a lot. It's the truth.**

**I'll be drawing the dresses eventually, so I'll post when and where you can find it if the description doesn't quite cut it for you. Haha.**

**And, without further ado besides the disclaimer, I give to you the long-awaited, the one, the only, Seventeenth Chapter of Could It Be Jealousy.**

**Disclaimer: This is a _fan_fiction, and is therefore written by a _fan_ of the _fiction_ which is written by _Misashi Kishimoto._ Honestly.**

* * *

Ino

Could It Be Jealousy?

Chapter Seventeen: Prom Night

I was dizzy when I woke up. My head was spinning, and I couldn't yet tell the difference between my dreams and what I was seeing in them and the reality of what I was _actually_ seeing. But then a thought came to my mind. _It's Saturday..._ I thought. And, after a moment of processing that thought, I immediately woke up. "It's Saturday! Which means today is prom night! Oh my God, there's so much to do!"

My mind went from the tortoise to the hare in almost a split second. Suddenly, I couldn't sit still. I had to be doing _something_ to start getting ready at all times. I made a large bowl of breakfast burrito mix (containing everything worth eating: potatoes, eggs, bacon, sausage, etc.) and had myself one, leaving out the totillas for my parents and hopping in the shower. I washed my hair twice with the ocean breeze shampoo Neji liked so much, making sure it would still smell nice by the time I saw him. I called Sakura while I brushed through my damp hair, deciding to let it air dry.

"Hey, Sakura!" I said into the phone.

I could hear the smile on her face in her voice. "Hey, Ino," she replied. "Are you up and ready to start the preparations?"

I nod, which was actually very difficult to do while holding the phone to my ear with my shoulder. "Yeah, I'm ready when you are."

"Great! I'll be over to pick you up in twenty. Hinata said she would meet us there."

I grin. "Okay, thanks Forehead. See you soon."

"See you, Ino-Pig."

The line went dead with a _click_.

I smiled, setting my phone on my desk and combing through my hair some more and getting dressed in simple clothes: jean cutoffs and an orange tank. Sakura was at my door a few minutes later, an a slip into a pair of flip flops before hurrying out the door with her.

Hinata was already there when we got to the hair salon. She beamed at Sakura and me as she hugged us excitedly. "Come on, I already got scheduled, so it won't be too long before we get started."

Sure enough, a few minutes after we take a seat, the hairdressers take us to a seat and start working their magic. Hinata's long black hair was to be pulled up into an elegant bun made from swirls of hair, strands hanging down from the bun and on the sides of her face, curled.

Sakura had less hair to work with, so they decided to curl it inward towards her face here and there, forming waves in her hair everywhere else.

Mine was more work, as I was having it colored before styling, lighter and darker highlights being added in a natural-looking weave before pulling my hair back into a ponytail, adding waves to the bottom with the curler. Strands hung free from the ponytail to frame my face, also being forced into sharb, abrupt waves.

We all had glitter in our hair.

It took us two hours to get our hair done, so by the time we were out, it was almost lunch. We went back to my place to eat and finish getting ready.

We took turns doing each other's make-up: I did Hinata's, Hinata did Sakura's, and Sakura did mine. Since Hinata's dress was mainly white, with gold sparkles at the bottom trailing up, I decided to line her eyes with gold on the outside, but with a soft black on the waterline to help blend the mascara.

Sakura had a black dress with red roses, but Hinata used dark black eyeliner and mascara on her eyes, leaving the red for her lips.

And, since my eyes were blue but had grey flecks, Sakura used grey eyeshadow to mute the grey in my eyes and make them seem bluer, using the make-up subtly, making my eyes the most striking thing on my face.

Then we did nails the reverse order. I painted Sakura's nails a deep red the color of her lips and dress, a black line cutting across each nail diagonally towards the center, offset to the side so that the line didn't cut the nail in anywhere equal sections. Sakura painted Hinata's nails white, tipping them in gold and painting a clear coat with sparkles over them. Hinata did something a little different to mine, though. My nails we blue, the color of my eyes and not my dress, tipped with white, the color of Neji's eyes, and had two pink hearts on each of my ring fingers only. The symbolism made me blush, but it was cute.

Finally, we slid into the dresses and put on the jewelry and shoes, the adjourning to my livingroom to wait for the boys anxiously but excitedly.

After forever had happened and ended, we finally heard the doorbell ring. My father popped his head into the room. "That them?"

We answered him with excessive nods.

He smiled and walked to the door, opening it up for the boys and stepping aside for them to enter.

Naruto stepped in first, wearing black slacks, a white shirt, and a white tie with golden stripes, the happy grin on his face morphing into an amazed smile as his eyes found Hinata looking like a goddess, white v-neck dress hanging off her shoulders with a golden necklace hanging at the same angles, golden bands around her left upper arm and wrists. He took her hand and kissed it, causing her to giggle.

Then Sasuke stepped in, black slacks and shirt, dark red tie around his neck to match his dark red eyes. His eyes met mine for a split second before he turned to Sakura and kissed her lips.

And then my angel walked through the door, closing it behind him. He looked over to me and grinned happily, taking me into his arms. He wore a blue shirt: not quite the same color as my dress (or my eyes,) but was close enough to not clash and a black tie.. His happy white eyes gleamed as he looked at me. "Hey."

I beamed up at him, giggling. "Hey."

We kissed softly, the world melting away.

And then it solidified again. "Alright, let's take pictures!" my mother said, walking into the room with a camera in hand. "Girls first."

I smile at Neji before heading to stand with the girls out back in front of a white privacy fence that stood in front of the patio, vines climbing up it. Hinata and I hug each other, Sakura hugging her back.

"Now the boys."

Naruto draped his arms over Sasuke and Neji's shoulders, and the camera clicked incessantly in my mother's hands.

"Whole group."

At first we stood as boys and girls, and then we stood with our dates. My eyes shined as Neji wrapped his arms around me.

"Couples."

Hinata and Naruto went first, standing side by side with Naruto's hand on her hip casually. Sasuke and Sakura turned mostly towards each other, his back arm around her waist. Then it was Neji and me. I stood with my back to him, his arms around me so his hands rested on my stomach, his head leant forward ever so slightly and to the side so that his face was right next to mine. I don't think I've ever smiled as much.

We did a few shots of singles then before heading off to Sakura's house and the Hyuuga mansion to take pictures. After everyone's parents were satisfied, we went to prom.

The place was amazing. It was dimly lit, with soft white chandeliers and candles on tables. Music wafted throughout the room softly, but I knew it would be louder at the dance floor.

We all sat at a table, talking animatedly. "Hey did you hear about," and "Woah, you're kidding," were said a lot. Temari joined us in a red dress, Shikamaru wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a red tie loosely hanging from his neck, the collar slightly unbuttoned, but they left to go "hang" in a corner somewhere after a few minutes. Tenten and Lee also joined us for a short while, clad in black and silver and green, but they went to go dance eventually.

It took Sakura forever to get Sasuke to dance with her, but when he actually went out onto the dance floor, he guided her skillfully, and they glided across the floor with ease. Naruto, on the other hand, had to convince Hinata that since she only gets to go to Senior Prom once, that she should dance with him. She submissively agreed after a while, but they stumbled and tripped from time to time, as Naruto was about as graceful as he was quiet. He did, however, get the hang of it eventually.

Neji and I sat and talked for a long time, my head on his shoulder as we sat in the dim light and soft music. But then he looked down at me and asked, "Would you like to dance?"

There was no way I could say no.

I blushed as he took my hand and lead me to the floor, knowing that I was somehow going to mess up the dance. But when we started to move in time to the beat, I knew without thinking what to do, Neji's hand on the small of my back leading me in the right direction. I smiled softly and looked up at him, and when he looked back, I knew that there was _nothing_ that _anyone_ could do to mess up that dance, or that night. We danced the entire rest of the night, Neji proudly leading me around during the slow songs and good-naturedly dancing along during the faster ones.

"You look absolutely radiant," he whispered to me.

I beam up at him. "And you look quite gorgeous as well."

He laughed. "So, Prom Night: rememberable?"

"Unforgettable."

He smiled softly, and I laid my head down on his shoulder as we moved to the soft lullaby, an unavoidable peace of mind settling over me. Neji was mine, we were at prom, and everything was perfect.

Soon, the music ended, and it was time to leave. We went to dinner, and then bowling, and then back to Sasuke's to hang and talk and watch movies. We stayed up the whole night (except for Hinata, who fell asleep on Naruto's shoulder halfway through Pirates of the Carribean.) But by the time the sun came up, we were all damn tired. Naruto carried Hinata to the closest guest room with Sasuke as a guide, laying her in the bed and quietly falling asleep with her. Then Sakura and Sauske went to Sasuke's room and slept on his, to quote Sakura, "king-sized cloud bed with red silken sheets."

Neji and I sat on the bed of a random guest room, my head laying on his chest as we talked quietly. I soon succumbed to the drowziness, but still heard Neji whispering words of love in my ear, his face and smile and voice filling up my dreams.

Prom Night: _Absolutely_ unforgettable.


	18. Graduation

**Well, I know I said that last chapter was the third to last. But turns out that was wrong, and this will be the last chapter of Could It Be Jealousy.**

**At the end, you may hate me. I'm just saying. But I think it's a good climaxing point at which to end.**

**No, there will not be anything about them after this. I will not be like, "Oh, let me just add in their college and jobs and wedding and honeymoon and kids." This is it. Sorry, but I've had more than enough of this. I've worked on this for over three years, and it is now finished.**

**It's a little vague, I guess. But _I_ think the writing is fairly good. I liked how this one flowed. I think the fast pace kind of symbolized something about life ( but don't ask me what, because I don't really get it myself. Be creative(: .)**

**Let me just say that I _really_ appreciate all the support and love you readers gave me over the course of the story. As much as I always said, "I hate this story so much," and "This story makes me want to cry because it's so bad," I never once said anything about how much fun I had writing it this whole time, good writing or no.**

**So I'd just like to give a few notions to people who really helped keep me on the straight and narrow of writing on the way.**

RamenIshLove**/**thatniggarandi**. She has always supported me, and not just in my writing.**

Ino-Gaara**. She's been such a good friend, and, to the extent of my knowledge, is my most loyal reader.**

deathrosekitty**. She's been a reader pretty much since I posted it. I don't know if she still reads, but she was my first signed, traceable review, and I thank her for that.**

Alicia Vyraxis Draken Uchiha**. I'm almost POSITIVE she doesn't read anymore, but she helped my writing grow a lot, so even if she never sees it, she deserves a shout out.**

LM3795, ByeMmph', -Your Average Sardonist-, EmoPrincess21, XxMirrored-KannaXx, Blacktears110, Ai Angel, tomandnejifangirl, ShayShay202, hine4dei, Kigaroo**, and all the anonymous reviewers, thank you. Your reviews were a lot of why I kept going.**

**So yeah. Just, thank you. To all of you wonderfully special people. I'm telling you right now, this is the first multiple-chapter thing I have ever finished before, and I know that I _certainly_ would not have finished it if I hadn't had all of you.**

**And, now, the last chapter of Could It Be Jealousy.**

**Disclaimer: Ehh. I don't own Naruto. xD**

**

* * *

Ino**

**Could It Be Jealousy?**

**Chapter Eighteen**

The Summer Fever was starting to kick in. All the seniors were going crazy. We were graduating. We were _finally_ getting out of this place. It was the same thing that happens every year around the last few weeks of school. The students go nuts, but none so much as the seniors. It was time for the last pranks, the last assignments, and then: finals.

But those were easy. Our finals always are. I think the teachers may actually do it on purpose, but I'm not completely sure.

Outside of school, everyone was hanging out all the time. It was time to get as much fun in as possible together, because we were all going to be leaving to different colleges in just a few days. Last goodbyes were soon to be in order.

Most of us were super excited: I swear Sakura was bouncing constantly, her eyes displaying her thoughts like it was their job to be the billboard, not her forehead's. _I'm graduating! I'm graduating! I'm graduating! Uh huhh!_

Mine were more along the lines of: _Well damn!_

(()) (()) (())

A week away from Graduation Day, while we were on the way to school, Neji looked over at me with a bright grin on his face. "You excited for graduation?" he asked me.

I looked out the window quietly.

He took another glance at me, almost worriedly. "Ino?"

I don't look at him.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asks.

I sigh, breathing out in a huff. "Yeah, I'm fine… it's just…"

We pulled up to the school, and he shuts off the engine.

"It's just what, love?"

I looked at him. "I just don't want to graduate."

He looks at me, slightly stunned, and takes my hand softly. "Why?" he asks sincerely.

I shake my head.

"Ino… talk to me."

"I just don't want to!" I say, sliding my hand out of his and getting out of the car, my arms wrapping around me as I heading towards the building. I left Neji behind. Something about him (or maybe it was something about me,) made it hard to be around him just then.

I watched myself from the inside. I knew it was rude to leave him there, and I knew it was silly to get upset over his simple question. But I didn't stop myself.

(()) (()) (())

Neji gave me a while to blow off steam. We had to sit together in class, but he didn't say anything, patiently waiting for me. It was really, really awkward at first, but eventually I just got over it (it being both the awkward silence and myself). I was glad he wasn't trying to ask me what had happened: I didn't want to explain it to him.

At lunch, I finally just talked to him again.

"I'm sorry…" I said, not looking up at him.

There was a smile in his voice. "It's alright."

I chanced a look up at him, to find him looking at me with the same, excepting smile he always has when he looks at me. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

I didn't want to. I didn't want to say anything more. He forgave me, and I wanted that to be the end of it. But he deserved to know why. Sure, it wasn't a huge, full-blown fight. But I did get angry for apparently no reason. And I wanted him to understand why more than I wanted to not say anything. "No… I need to get this out of my system…"

I paused. He waited.

"I… I didn't mean to get upset. It's just… well, when we graduate, we're never going to see each other. And that scares me."

He nods to show he saw what I meant. "How do you know we won't see each other, though? We can still go to the same college, and we can spend time outside of school together."

"I have to get a job, Neji. And you're going to end up at some really nice, high-standing, expensive college. I'll have to take a year or two off just to save up enough money to go to some shitty community college. You're prolly going to go somewhere else in the country for school, and I'm going to be stuck here. Where do you see time for us there?"

He just smiles. "I don't have to go _anywhere_ to go to school, love."

"Yes, you do! You have the money for it, so you are _going_ to go to _the_ _best_ school you can."

He thinks for a moment, and then his smile widens. "I think I have an idea. And it's a _really_ good idea, if I do say so myself."

I look at him. "Well, what is it?"

He shakes his head with a grin. "No… if it's going to work, it has to be a surprise. Just trust me, okay? Everything will work out. I promise." He kisses my forehead softly.

I lean into his touch, tucking my head under his chin to lay on his chest. "You better keep that promise," I tell him quietly.

He caresses my hair. "I will."

(()) (()) (())

The week soon passed. I spent a few nights out with the girls, and the rest up late either actually with Neji, or talking with him on the phone.

Naruto and Sakura were our class-nominated speakers, and both of them had really amazing speeches when the time came. Sakura's was more intellectual, but Naruto's was definitely more inspiring and heartfelt.

And then, we tossed our caps into the air.

Neji looked over to me with a smile as hats fell down, his diploma in his hand. But there was something else there, but I couldn't quite see what. "Hey, come with me," he whispered.

I looked at him hesitantly but followed after him without even having to thinking about it.

He led me outside to the front courtyard, where bushes and flowers were all in bloom. He sat me down on the bench.

"So, I have the solution to our problem here."

His smile encreases tenfold as he hands me a small manilla envelope. It was labled, 'Ino' in elegant cursive.

I raised a curious eyebrow. "What is it…?"

"Just open it, Ino."

I looked down at the object in my hands. _What the hell… Why not?_ I slide my finger under the flap, tearing it open and pulling out the piece of paper inside. When I opened it, there was just two things on the paper: one sentence, and Hiashi's name and signature. He had written, "Ino, we will pay for your college if you say yes."

I felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle.

"Say yes to wh-"

I look over to Neji to find him on a knee in front of me, a white-diamond ring in his hand.

"Marry me?"

* * *

**Anyone hate me? Lol. **

**Please, leave a review on the last chapter? You won't have another chance to review a new chapter(:**


	19. Epilogue Part One Rated T

**So this is actually posted somewhere else on the site, but I figured I should probably put them actually connected to the rest of the story. Yeah, I know that I said I wasn't writing more. But I couldn't help myself. Besides... I wrote this forever ago.**

**As for any questions you guys have... well, to be honest, most of them are either simple consistency errors or stuff that I just Author Hand-Waved away. I'm really sorry that I can't give better explanations that that, but that's the truth. However, if you like this story, then I really would like to suggest my story titled, _Mind, Body, and Soul_. It's got OC's in it, but the writing is much, much, much better, way more consistent (at least I think so (; ) and I just personally think it's a good story. And since it'll NEVER get views unless I start promoting it, and this is one of my most popular stories, I figured this is the best place to do it. Haha ;D**

**So yes. Here's the Epilogue for Could It Be Jealousy, just in case you haven't read it where it was originally posted. (;**

* * *

**Epilogue for Could It Be Jealousy**

**Ino**

** Epilogue Part One: What Happened Next**

* * *

"Marry me?"

It only took me a few seconds to squeal, jumping into his arms happily. "Yes!"

He took me by the waist, twirling me around in the air and laughing, planting a kiss on my smiling lips when my feet touched the ground.

When we pulled away, he smiled down at me brightly, taking the ring and placing it on my finger. I couldn't help but giggle and smile even more. _I'm marrying Neji Hyuuga…! _ I thought joyously. I didn't even try to stop myself; I hugged him tight, the smile never leaving my lips.

The paper fell from my hands as he hugged me back, tucking my head under his chin. I had been happy before, but never to this extent. Tears spill from my eyes.

He tilts my head up to wipe them away, smile ever present. " I love you," he tells me.

The response was automatic, but it was nothing less than the truth. "I love you, too."

He kissed me softly, hand under my chin.

But just as the kiss was deepening, kids and parents and relatives and family friends of all sorts started to pour out of the gymnasium doors. My mother was smiling, tears rolling down her face. I think even my stony father had a tear in his eye as he held my mom.

"Do they already know…?" I ask Neji quietly.

He nods. "I'm kind of old fashioned," he says with a laugh.

I look up. "You mean you asked his permission?"

He grins but says nothing.

I laugh, hugging him tighter.

Hinata and Sakura's voices barely make it to my ears. "So cute…"

"Adorable. They'll be so happy…"

I beam. _So _everyone_ knows…_ I strangely, I didn't care. I was overwhelmed by absolute happiness. I was _marrying_ Neji Hyuuga.

My parents, along with Hiashi, Sakura, and Hinata, made their way over to us. "So," Hiashi said. "I take it you said yes."

I nodded excitedly.

He smiles more brightly than I had ever seen the cold man smile before. "I am delighted. Welcome to the family."

Hinata hugged me tight. "We're going to be cousins!" she exclaimed.

I hugged back. "Hinata, we're going to be like sisters."

Both Neji and Hinata smiled at that.

Sakura joined in the hug. "God, I'm so happy for you, Ino," she told me, tearily. "But you had better be inviting me to the wedding!"

I laugh. "You will. Don't you worry."

She smiles.

We all smile.

After the ectsasy had faded, I was a little begruding of them paying for college. But Neji finally got me to budge enough to make me allow them to pay fo it for me (but only on the condition that I was going to the same college as Neji.)

Yeah. I'm going to the same college as Neji.

Harvard.

Wow.

Neji and I got a little apartment a few blocks away from campus, and two nice cars. Both of us are working: him in at the airport, loading baggage on and off of the planes, me at a daycare with almost fifty loveable bundles of joy.

We finished our freshman year of college with outstanding GPAs. And, on May 23rd, we were married.

The place was beautiful: located in a park on the outskirts of town, with a fountain in the middle, flowers lining the walkways. There were Cala Lillies, my favorite flower, everywhere.

It' was nighttime, with the stars twinkling brightly overhead. The tents were white silk, thin enough to see through them. The guestlist was just family and friends, but it was a well-sized guestlist considering the size of Neji's family and the number of my friends.

My bridesmaids, Hinata, Tenten, and Temari, were dressed in a soft powder blue, and Sakura in a slightly more viberant tone of the same color as my maid of honor.

Neji chose Naruto for his best man, as the two had gotten closer after Hinata and him had gotten engaged as well.

I had all the four somethings. Something old: my grandmother's flowery lace veil. Something new: the pearly white dress I wore. Something borrowed: Hinata's silver hairpins. Something blue: a silk bow tied into my hair.

When I looked at myself in the mirror right before I had to walk, I saw something I hadn't seen before. I saw a woman that was beautiful: not just because of the curves and colors of her face, but because of the happiness in her eyes. I was happy: happier than I ever had been before.

I'll never forget the look I saw in Neji's eyes when he first saw me. I saw him draw in a breath, holding a hand to his chest. I smiled brightly. He was beautiful to me.

And when he held my hand in front of that altar, when we read our vows, when we slid the rings onto each other's fingers… it was magic. If magic was ever to exist in this world, it was when his lips sealed over mine: when we were finally wed together, and were bound together forever. In that moment, there was nothing I could not have done.

When we broke apart, my husband wrapped his arms around me and spun me in the air like he had when he asked me to marry him.

My husband…

Hinata was the one to catch my boquet. She looked over at Naruto and they both smiled.

The night was easily the happiest of my life. For the first time in probably my whole life, I saw my father cry as he danced with me. He said he was expecting grandchildren before he died. I laughed at that, but nodded.

And then Neji turned to me. "Might I have this dance?"

I beamed at him. "Of course you may."

He pulled me into his arms. Everything was perfect. We danced the rest of the night.

And when it was all over, we got in the cab and headed home after the croud had finished their goodbies. I fell asleep laying on Neji's shoulder, more happy and calm than I had ever been before.


	20. Epilogue Part Two Rated M! XXX

Epilogue for Could It Be JealousyIno

**Epilogue**

**Part Two: After The Wedding**

I woke up the next morning in my nightclothes, lying on Neji's chest. I turned my head up to look at him to find he was already awake, looking down at me, watching me sleep. "Good morning, my dearly beloved wife." He smiled uncontrollably at the last word. So did I.

"Good morning." I sat up, kissing him softly.

He smiled when we pulled away. "How does it feel to be married?"

I laughed, not even having to think about it. "It's wonderful."

He grins, sitting up, the blankets falling away from his bare chest, and kisses me again. "Yeah, I think so, too."

Our lips touch again, and his hands run down the skin of my back, along my spine, tracing the bones of my hips, mine gripping his shoulders. "Neji…" I mumble softly between kisses.

He trails his lips down my neck, nibbling on my collarbone as he pulls me into his lap. I tilt my head away to allow him more room.

He grins, fingertips brushing over my skin in a way that gave me shivers. I look down at him with a small smile.

He had that look in his eye. The, "I want to, but if you don't want to, we can get up" kind of look. The potential was there. As I looked into his eyes, the vibe grew. Maybe it's because the potential was in my eyes, too. We kissed again.

He rolled us over so he was on top of me, his lips pressed against mine passionately. My legs wrapped around his waist as his hands held me firmly againt him. My fingers wove into his hair.

One of his hands trailed up my back to find the clasp of my bra, unhooking it easily with only that one hand. He broke the kiss only long enough to take it off, tossing it across the room without care of where it landed.

I tugged at the top of his boxers, and he at the top of my panties. Within seconds, nothing was between us.

We kissed eachother, not an inch of space between us. I could feel him against me. _All_ I could feel was him against me. Nothing else in the world mattered.

He pulled away from my lips, breathing heavily. "Ino…" he whispered against the skin of my neck. He was hesitating, giving me room to change my mind.

But why would I? What reason would I have to say no?

Our eyes met. Our lips touched again as he pushed into me.

The pain was almost non-existant when mixed with the feeling of wholeness the connection brought. I was whole. Nothing was missing from the picture: it was just Neji and me. Everything I ever could've needed.

"Neji…" I moan.

He moved deeper, faster.

I moan his name again, eyes starting to close.

I see him grin. "I like the way that sounds," he whispers against my skin. I do it yet again, making him grin more.

It was amazing, being as we were. The pleasure I felt now was as extreme as the happiness I had felt last night. My nails dug into his back.

His name left my lips in a scream as we came.

He panted into the crook of my neck. "Ino…" he groans again.

We look to eachother. The smile on my face slowly turns into the smile on his.

Our lips seal over eachother's again. He pulls out of me.

"Okay, time to get up," he says.

I frown unhappily.

He nods to the clock. "Plane leaves in a few hours. And you still have packing to do."

I immediately brighten up. "Oh, right." He laughs, helping me sit up. But before my feet touch the carpet next to our bed, he picks me up bridal style. "But, I think we have time for a quick shower before we leave for New Zealand." He grins at me crookededly.

I laugh in total agreement.


End file.
